Before Time Runs Out
by LadyMarrowind
Summary: She didn't have a reason to live, he gave her one. Gweneth wasn't sure if she regretted walking through that door, for it meant the end of everything she ever was.
1. Boredom

Before Time Runs Out

Summary: After becoming the champion and leader of everything- Gweneth is bored and restless. She hears a rumor of a strange door and ventures inside. Will she be able to keep her heart intact before time runs out? Sheogorath x OCC

x x x x x x x

A young imperial girl laid on the hills of Cheydinhal, not too far away from her dark brotherhood sanctuary, not too far away from her guild halls either. She sighed and rolled over on her stomach, she had many names- Hero of Kyvatch, Champion of Cyrodill, Grand Champion, Arch Mage, Master, Listener, Grand Champion, Gray Fox, and 'Citizen'. The woman by the name of Gweneth , the name her mother and father gave her mulled over her life. She quickly became easily bored with brooding as she laid on the wet grass though. She had done about everything that had peaked her interest in the blasted country and yet it wasn't enough. She was only the age of 23 and was in no mind set to settle down even though she had many suitors who attempted to get near her.

The imperial girl had grown out her hair over the many years of work she gave to the Empire, to the Brotherhood, to the Mage's Guild, the Gray Fox, and the fighter's guild. Many had liked her long black hair, a few dear to her like to compliment her on it on every occasion they got. Lucien Lachance, Vicente Valtieri, and Martin Septim. She had always had a taste for powerful men, but they always seemed to die whenever she came into their lives. So Gwen decided to lock her heart away after Martin had died, and fill the void in her heart with missions to help people, earn money, search for treasure, and kill endless amounts of criminals and bandits that got in her way. Her eyes were a bright crystal blue, rivaling the ocean and skies. They were even brighter in contrast from her ivory skin. It was an odd trait she had, most imperials were very tan but she never grew a shade darker then her milky white skin. It was even more odd for the fact that she was always seen outside adventuring. Gweneth often hated her white skin, she favored a more tan skin for herself.

"Isn't there anything I can do around here?" Gwen sighed and ripped out a chunk of grass, Shadowmere snorted and rubbed her nose against her masters leg.

"Your bored too right Shadow? Well lets go roam around Cyrodill again and see what we can do." Gweneth stood up and patted her horse's back. She whinnied and galloped in the direction of Anvil. Gwen had fallen asleep half way through the ride, but she trusted that her horse could protect her if anything went wrong. Her horse over the years of riding with her had gotten a reputation, she of course somehow was never part of the legends but she had enough of her own anyways so she never bothered to correct anyone when she would hear the tales usually from an Imperial forester or a bandit.

They would call her horse all kinds of names, too many that she forgot most of them, the only way she could tell that they were talking about her horse was if they sounded as if their dad just snuck up on them and they had soiled their pants. Most of the stories went along the lines of a giant black horse as fast as lightning, black as night, immortal and undead, stronger than any normal horse... yadda yadda yadda. Gwen knew that technically the rumors were true but she liked to play them off as such, she had almost given away major details about her horse before- making them try to hang her for being a dark mage or a necromancer. She knew that she was anything but a mage, of course she knew that she had enough magika inside of her to make it to Arch Mage but if she had the option of killing something- she would choose a glass claymore to the head. Gwen was more than capable of protecting herself just like her horse, even in her sleep. Some would call her some kind of immortal for going through so many things, sometimes she would think the same thing. But she knew that she could bleed, get infected, and almost die. Gweneth wasn't immortal but at some points in her life she hoped she was.

"Nyeeehh." Shadowmere snorted. They had been traveling for many days to get to Anvil and Gweneth woke up from her position on her steed's back. The morning light creeped up from the mountains behind her making the city of Anvil before her glow. Gwen got off her horse's back and led her on the path to the stables.

"How long will you be staying?" A man running the stable asked, he took Shadowmere into the gates with the white horses. She stood out like a sore thumb, more so than usual though.

"Uhmn... maybe a few days. I do have a house here mind you. Shadowmere wont give you any problems I promise." Gweneth handed the man a few hundred coins, making his day. She had accumulated so much money that it was useless to her now. Even if she sold all of her items she had collected, none of the merchants in all of Cyrodill had enough money to but it all off of her. Gweneth had bought all of the homes for sale in every city. Aside from being known as a great fighter and hero to almost everything, she was known for her wealth.

"Aye, thank you kind lady." The man winked and walked away with a bounce in his step.

Gweneth ignored him after that, she went to her manor by the castle and filled her chests with more rare items she had found in Cyrodill. Her house was filled with all kinds of treasure, but the only thing she favored most now days after her travels was a warm sweet roll. Gwen grabbed a roll off of her table that looked like it was never touched. All of her houses looked untouched and almost perfect, except for her hovel on the waterfront- inside it was clean and orderly but she never could have disguised the dirty and worn walls and furniture. But that was why she liked it the most, no matter what she did with it the place its true colors would always shine through. Gweneth admired that the most about the shack, it was also a plus that all of her friends would protect it in the waterfront and it was located in the imperial city a few houses away from her guild house. If she ever had a problem with her shack getting broken into- she could easily move all her things into her guild masters room that only she could enter.

"I wonder if any of the beggars have any new info, I could use something to do." Gwen mumbled while nibbling on her sweet roll. She was entirely bored with her life and hated that she kept repeating it to herself whenever her mind stopped roaming. "I think I'll greet some of the sailors instead, they are pretty interesting."

The young imperial changed out of her usual brotherhood armor, she favored it the most out her collection of light and heavy armor. On rare occasions where her brotherhood armor would be broken, Gwen would break out her enchanted elven armor. She preferred it the most from her collection but if she could she would always wear her black leather outfit Ocheeva first gave her. After she had killed off her whole sanctuary family- she made sure to strip them of their leather armor and store it in her chest. She really loved the armor.

"This will do." Gwen smiled. She had put on a tan skirt and a plaid shirt with a tan vest. She slipped into her cow hide shoes comfortably. The sleeves were rolled up and her hair tied back into a long ponytail that reached her calves. It was a modest outfit and very comfortable to her, she was sure that she would get the sailors attention without her appearance though- over the years she had become skilled in speech-craft. Well she had become skilled in about almost everything, hence why she was always bored.

x-x

Gwen pushed the large metal gate leading to the docks with ease, after traveling for so long across Cyrodill it became easy to push and pull the gates open. Imperial guards would give her odd looks when she would run into the city in a rush, the gates would be opened quick and gave enough room for three large men to walk through- usually the guards themselves would have to open them for civilians were too weak to even open them in a little. A young small framed imperial in a hurry with the strength of a few men made the guards give her a double take more than a few times. It was strange. But Gwen remembered when she first started to adventure, gates were one of the hardest things to conquer. When she was around 15 years of age, grown men would laugh at the puny girl attempting to push open a city gate. Gwen hated those men and swore that she would prove them wrong one day.

"Aye look over there- A pretty imperial." A sailor pointed in Gwen's direction.

"Oh yeah, she looks familiar. Doesn't she have a house here?" Another sailor nudged his friend.

"Yeah. She pays us for information, it be best if you were on your best behavior, she pays us well if we are respectful."

"Oh. Okay."

"Hey there! Have you all been doing well?" Gwen approached the three. They nodded eagerly.

"Is there anything you want miss?" One of the men scratched the back of his head in nervous excitement.

"Why yes there is. I just want to know if there has been anything interesting going on around these parts or anywhere around Cyrodill. You see I have been awfully bored lately. Maybe one of you men can help me get rid of it." Gwen patted her full coin purse on her hip, she knew that no one would dare pickpocket her for they heard many rumors about her- sad thing is that they were all true.

"Hmmm. Theres been a few Ayleid ruins turning up, One of them is called Garlas Malatar. I could point it on your map if you want..."

"Uhmn no thank you. I have had enough time in those ruins, its quite depressing and I would rather not look for traps and creatures at every turn." Gwen sneered, she tried to avoid those ruins as much as possible until her boredom got the best of her.

"Theres some gauntlets stuck to the floor of the church of Stendarr is Chorrol. They say only a true warrior can pick them up."

"Maybe I'll get to that some other time, old armor really doesn't get me going." Gwen fiddled with her coin purse, making the men begin to sweat.

"A bunch of priests have just been killed in the church a few days ago. They don't know who the killers are."

"Eh, I've heard that already from the old man that keeps yelling outside near my house. Is that really all whats going on? Well it seems that I'm gonna have to go home and put all this money back in my chest." Gwen turned to leave but was stopped by the three men. One of them began to talk very quickly.

"Okay fine, we have one more thing. We didn't want to tell you because we thought that you were going to leave us forever." The man paused dramaticly, getting the imperial's attention. "Theres a door, a mysterious door that has appeared out of nowhere. Its next to Bravil in the water of Niben Bay. The door is so large that its like a little island. No one knows where the door leads, some people have come out insane after entering. Please miss, that's all we know. We want you to be safe so we weren't going to tell you." The man frowned, but perked up when a handful of gold coins were pressed into his hands like his crew mates.

"Thanks for the information. It was very helpful. You don't have to worry about me though, I know how to survive." Gwen smirked and strode past the men. It was cute that they cared for her well being, but she knew it was only because she had endless amounts of money. She still found it endearing. Gwen walked into the Flowing Bowl and ordered a mug of mead. She dwelled on the mysterious door the men had explained to her.

'Bravil eh? That's a few days travel and I might have to give Shadowmere to someone to look over. Would S'Krivva look after my horse if I dawned the Gray Fox cowl? Well its worth a try.' Gwen chugged down her mead excitedly, a new adventure to cure her boredom. Gwen paid for her mead and went to her house to pack, she mentally made a note to go to her waterfront house and guild house, her favorite items she stored there.

"Come on Shadowmere, its time to go." Gweneth mounted her horse now dawned with some saddle bags attached to the seat. Gwen readjusted her black leather bag on her Dark Brotherhood armor. She nudged her horse in the side to tell her to start galloping. Shadowmere followed her master's orders and rode off into the night towards the Imperial City.

x-x

Well there is my attempt at an Oblivion fan-fiction.

I hope you guys like the start of it.

Please leave a review on what you think of it.

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	2. The Door

-Before Time Runs Out-

Disclaimer: I do not own Oblivion, or anything about Elder Scrolls, just Gweneth maybe.

x-x

"Ah the Waterfront, it smells just as fishy as always." Gwen smiled at the site of seeing her hovel from across the water. She made Shadowmere swim through the water for she needed a bath at the time anyways. Shadowmere gradually got out of the water and trotted to the front of Gwen's house. She liked the fact that she could ride her horse in the Waterfront, it was the only place she could keep her horse with her while staying in the city.

Gwen left Shadowmere outside the front of her house as she rummaged through her cupboard. The men said that the door was highly dangerous so she figured that she would bring her best items to face whatever was in the door. Gwen grabbed her blade of woe, many bottles of healing potions, a few hundred silver enchanted arrows, the shadow hunt bow, a glass claymore, some portions of food, and a few scrolls to add to her collection that she normally carried around just because. Once Gwen exited her house she went to her guild room to pick up a few more potions and scrolls, but other than that she deemed herself ready to face whatever would be inside of the mysterious door.

Shadowmere ran fast with Gwen on her back to Bravil, it took about a day to get there and it was night when they arrived. Gwen set Shadowmere inside of Bay Roan Stables and closed the gate, she gave the keeper a few gold coins and pushed the gate of Bravil open. She knew that at this time of night she would be walking back to her home from the Inn on the other side of the city. Gwen snuck into S'Krivva's home and put on the Gray Fox cowl, she sat down in the chair she would usually sit in to read and eat in her dining area on the first level. She heard the noise of the key going inside the front door and the loud opening of the door itself. S'Krivva padded into the room she was in, not noticing that she was there until she lit a candle.

"Oh!" S'Krivva gasped. "The Gray Fox, I'm sorry I intruded on you. Is there anything this humble thief can do for you?" Gwen nearly smiled at how uncomfortable the Khajiit was underneath her gaze. She let her squirm for a few more moments before speaking herself.

"I would like a favor of you Doyen." Gwen stared at the fidgeting Khajiit. " I would like for you to look after my horse while I leave the country."

"Of course I will, what kind of horse is it and its name? And may I ask of why you are leaving the country?" S'Krivva's ears perked up at hearing such an easy task.

"Her name is Shadowmere and is a black horse, you will know which one it is in the stables. I require you to properly care for her, meaning you feed, bathe, and ride her around the city. I do not want her to be out of shape or unhealthy when I come back." Gwen debated on telling S'Krivva why she was leaving, she was after all a very trustworthy member of the guild. "I am leaving the country on business. I am unsure on how long I will be away so don't expect me to come back at all. Take this as payment and to help pay for my horse's needs." Gwen handed her a bag containing five thousand gold. S'Krivva's gold eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

"This is too much! I can't take this from you." S'Krivva tried to give bag the heavy bag but Gwen refused to take it back, it wasn't as if she didn't have anymore where that came from.

"Please take it Doyen, I do not know how long I may be gone so use the money on what you see fit. If I... don't come back, then you are in charge of the guild. I would like you to run it while I'm away also. Do not argue this, I will not have this any other way."

"Alright. Thank you. I will make sure that your horse is safe and healthy. Shadows hide you." S'Krivva bowed and went upstairs into her room.

"Shadows hide you." Gwen left S'Krivva's house in a better mood. With the matter of her horse being taken cared of, Gwen took off her cowl and took her pack of things with her to the shore.

x-x

"So now how to I get across to that Island?" Gwen squinted her eyes to try to see the details of the Island but all she could see was a giant black mass in the water of Niben Bay.

Gwen sighed when she realized that she would have to cross it herself alone, she slipped on her ring of Rumare though and ran over the water as fast as she could, her feet would occasionally fall into the water and drench themselves in ice cold water. It took a few minutes but Gwen made it across the water without falling in. She sat on the bank and removed her ring and set it into her pack. Gwen turned around and climbed up the little hill but was still focused on her ice cold feet. She only looked up when a man in iron armor yelled at her to stop and a Khajiit cowering in a corner mumbled a few random things. Gwen took that moment to look at the island she was on, a few foreign mushroom plants were on the ground and the door to another realm looked rather intimidating. Three faces morphed into each other with the screaming open mouth as the door. It looked as if fire was coming out of the mouth, blue fire. The three faces intrigued Gwen, if they weren't so menacing looking she would have thought that the man would be handsome in all three of his emotion filled faces.

"Hey stop!" A lone imperial man acting as a guard called out to her.

"...What?" Gwen looked annoyed as the man walked up to her, she wanted to enter the gate already. The anticipation was killing her, if that was just the door then she definitely wanted to see what was on the inside.

"You better be careful if your going to go in there. I've seen a lot of people go in there, some never come back out and the ones that do just aren't right. They've changed, and I had to be the one to stop them from going any further in this world." The man glared at Gwen.

"So how does this pertain to me?" Gwen looked over his shoulder to see the Khajiit bowing down to the flaming door.

"If you come out changed too I'll have to stop you too." The imperial sneered. "Hold on, I feel another one coming out."

Just as the man finished his sentence a man come out of the door, he was dressed in foreign clothing and was a scared Dunmer. He rambled about a few random things before the angry imperial cut him down quickly. He searched his body and put the gold from the now dead man's pocket in his own, he gave Gwen a look and continued to guard the door. The female Khajiit became scared again and ran away down the hill by the water to cower again. She returned a few minutes later to restart her process.

"I'll be back, And I assure you that I wont be crazy when I come back out." Gweneth winked at the irritated imperial and waved at the paranoid Khajiit before she set her foot on the step leading inside. Gwen turned around and looked at the dark sky of Cyrodill one last time before entering. She stared at the stars and then the tallest building in the imperial city, her heart tensed inside for a moment remembering what she would be leaving.

"_Goodbye Shadowmere, Bye Lucien... Vicente... Martin...Goodbye my loves, at least for now."_

Gweneth kept her back to the door and jumped in backwards, she heard a similar sound of when she used to enter Oblivion gates all the time. It calmed her as she saw light blue flames engulf her vision, eating all of her sight of Cyrodill until nothing remained. The flames felt cold as she flew through a mini limbo, it was exactly the opposite of Oblivion. The limbo was always fiery hot but not nearly as much as the plane itself. Gwen felt the gravity of the new dimension take her over and send her faster to a ground that she couldn't see. She felt a ground set underneath her feet and the cold flames leave her, Gwen blinked her eyes open to see a dark room and a funny dressed man giving her a bored look sitting at a desk.

"Please, have a seat." The man gestured to the open chair in front of the desk. Gwen ignored the man, walking around the black room trying to find a way out. After she couldn't find a way out or back she sat in the open seat, the man looked entirely annoyed with her already.

"So... what is this?" Gwen tapped her foot and kept looking all around the black room.

"This is the realm of Shivering Isles. My master Sheogorath created it. He is looking for a champion currently and you might be the right person for the job." The man waited for Gweneth to talk.

"Who are you?" Gwen looked him up and down. "And why are you in that weird monkey suit?"

"My name is Haskill, and this 'monkey suit' as you so nicely put it is my clothing. I wear it like anyone else wears a shirt."

"I know some people who never wear shirts..." Gwen smiled when she saw his eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

"You know the point that I was trying to convey. If your done fooling around I would like to continue." Gwen nodded at him. "My master seeks a champion, he would like some help on a certain situation and its my job to find that person. If you prove yourself strong enough to defeat the gatekeeper then you are worthy to speak to Sheogorath. You will find him in New Sheoth waiting for you, more will be explained when you arrive. Now if you'll excuse me, I have more important work to do." Haskill vanished from the room, confusing Gweneth. The black room began to disappear quickly, the walls turned itself into bright pink butterfly's that flew off into the unfamiliar sky. Gwen gasped at the new land, it was beautiful to her in every way.

"Wow, who ever this Sheogorath guy is, he knows how to make some real pretty things..." Gwen got up from her chair and traveled down the hills covered in unique foliage. Gwen made her way into a small town, two men were talking to each other excitedly. Gwen decided to interrupt the Redguard.

"Hello, I'm Shelden. I've been here the longest. That's why I'm mayor of Passwall. That, and because I'm the best at being in charge. Welcome to my town!" Shelden smiled at a blank faced Gwen.

"So... Whats up with this town?" Gwen looked over at the hovels Shelden called a town.

"The place was pretty deserted when I got here. Of course once I was here, others followed. Can't say I blame them." Shelden's smug reply came.

"How do you get through the Gates of Madness?" Gwen hoped he had an easy answer.

"They say the keys are sewn up in the Gatekeeper's body. Basically, that means your not getting in." Shelden smiled warmly.

"Who's the Gatekeeper?"

"He guards the Gates of Madness. See for yourself. He's about to destroy a party of adventurers." Shelden and the other man ran up a hill and some stairs to go see the Gatekeeper, Gwen followed them.

"Ready men? Lets kill it!" The five men charged toward the giant stitched man that had easily taken two of them down from one punch. The men screamed out in sheer pain and fear as the Gatekeeper quickly ended them. Only a few scratches were on the Gatekeeper, when the men were dead it went back into its patrol of the area. Gwen poked the Redguard in the shoulder to speak with him.

"Thats the Gatekeeper?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, Don't get too close to him, he'll kill you and leave a mess in my town. Jayred Ice-Veins wants to kill the Gatekeeper. Sounds like suicide to me." Shelden walked away from Gwen after that, she blinked. So someone else needs this monster dead too?

Gwen walked down into Passwall again, she went in search of the man named Jayred Ice-Veins, it sounded like a Nord name.

"Is there a Jayred Ice-Veins here?" Gwen called out in the middle of the housing. A man bellowed behind her:

"I'm Jayred Ice-Viens." He walked up to Gwen confidently. "Do you ever wonder why things look better without their skin on? For instance, you can only really see the bones when you take them out. You can hear them better that way, too."

"Why are you in Passwall?" Gwen looked at him oddly, so he liked bones?

"I followed the bones. They lead me here." Yep. "I just moved in when I got here. No one seemed to mind. Everyone here seems to be waiting for something."

"I hear you want to get through the Gates of Madness too."

"I can hear them, calling to me from the other side. We need to kill the Gatekeeper! He has the keys."

"How do we do that?" Gwen was a little more than weirded out with his bone obsessed nature.

"I want him dead. I need him dead! His bones are calling to me. Rumor has it you want him dead, too. If your any good with a lockpick, we can get into the Gardens of Flesh and Bone. He must die, it's the only way."

"Yeah I know my way with a lockpick, So please continue." Gwen somehow liked his personality the more she heard him talk.

"They say the Gatekeeper's magical. I don't believe in magic. But I do believe in bones. And the best way to kill something is with the bones of its own. I can see the bones of a dead Gatekeeper in the courtyard of the Gardens. The door's locked, though. You'll pick that lock, and I'll collect the bones. Then I'll makes some arrows, and we'll kill the Gatekeeper. Sound good?"

"Yeah, lets go get the bones right now. I have nothing better to do." Gwen let the man lead her to the gates of the courtyard.

"Hurry! The bones are calling out to me!" Jayred whispered as Gwen approached the gate and pulled out her skeleton key.

"Hurry! Pick that lock open. I can hear them in there!" Jayred pushed the gates open quickly when he heard her turn the lock.

"Calm down, you'll get yourself killed running in there!" Gwen yelled out and threw a lighting bolt toward an angry skeleton. Jayred finished the rest of the enemies and ran over to the bones happily.

"From these Gatekeeper bones I can make some arrows. Find me in a few hours. We'll kill the Gatekeeper." Jayred left the courtyard for his home.

x-x

"Hey Jayred? Are you done yet?" Gwen knocked on his door, it opened slightly so she walked in. The whole house was covered in bones of all kinds. "Woah."

"The arrows are ready. Here are some for you, and I'll keep some. Let's go kill the Gatekeeper. We might die. But there are worse things."

"Like staying here?" Gwen smiled as he got up and led the way to the Gates of Madness.

The two walked up the steps, Jayred was mumbling excited things about the Gatekeeper and its bones. Gwen just wanted to get out of Passwall. She was already sick of it and wanted to venture more into this interesting world this Sheogorath guy made.

"There he is." Gwen pulled out her Shadowhunt bow and started firing for its head, Jayred ran around the Gatekeeper. He kept yelling things while it chased him around the area. Gwen eventually ran out of arrows, she knew that she was a fair marksman but it wasn't really her strong suit. She preferred battling with a sword so she pulled out her Glass Claymore and ran towards the beast. She managed to get a few heavy blows on the monster before being thrown back onto the steps, she felt her back begin to bleed. This thing was stronger than she thought. Jayred kept the Gatekeeper distracted for awhile so she could stand, Gwen got up and ran at the Gatekeeper again with more determination that before. She got him the second time around, the Gatekeeper screamed out before it fell on his face to the ground in a big thud.

"The Gatekeeper is slain. Congratulations. The honor of taking the keys from his corpse is yours." Jayred put his weapons away and watched Gwen rip open the Gatekeeper's stomach for the two keys. She cringed at seeing the decayed insides.

"Well I have them now." Gwen tried to smile.

"The Gatekeeper's dead. As soon as you get one of those doors unlocked, we can go in. They're calling to me from in there." Jayred followed Gwen closely as she walked to the gate of Dementia.

"Well I guess this is where we part." Gwen smiled up at the Nord. He nodded and walked away to an unknown place. Gweneth looked all around her, things were so much different from Tamriel. But its was a good different to her, she loved the mountains and grassy plains of Cyrodill but she was beginning to love the mystical looking area of the Shivering Isles. It looked as if faeries lived there.

"So where is New Sheoth...?" Gwen ventured through the area, she killed many new beasts that tried to kill her but it was no use for any of them. She was skilled enough to become the champion of Cyrodill and to kill the Gatekeeper, then some puny animals couldn't end her even if she had a disease eating her away.

"Welcome to Crucible." A dark seducer guard glared at Gwen when she passed through the gates, Gwen glared back.

The Imperial ventured through the depressing streets of Crucible, she found it quite calming. She roamed the rooftops for awhile because she could easily get up there, the view was great but she got bored quickly and moved into the next town.

"Welcome to Mania." A golden saint greeted her, she glared at Gwen as well.

"Thanks..." Gwen grumbled and glared back at her. What was with these people being so rude? Was it because she wasn't blue or gold? These guards were going to piss her off she just knew. At least the Imperial watch weren't nearly as hostile Gwen noted when she saw a golden saint chase after a frightened Khajiit and kill him.

"Where's the capital? I need to yell at Haskill..." Gwen looked around Mania for a bit before finding a gate that led to New Sheoth.

"Welcome to New Sheoth." A dark seducer guard greeted Gwen when she walked by her.

"Welcome to New Sheoth." Another golden saint greeted her as she walked by her.

"Welcome to New Sheoth, Enjoy your stay at the palace." A dark seducer greeted her as Gwen was about to open the door to Sheogorath's palace.

"...Thanks..." Gwen grumbled out. There was so many "Welcome to...'s" that she could take. She was going to kill a guard before she even met the prince, what a great way of a first impression.

As Gwen entered the palace the first thing she noticed was the green and red carpet. Then the gold and blue flame... and more guards. She glared at them before they got a chance to glare at her. The guards glared at her harder because of it, so Gwen stuck out her tongue and pulled down her eyelid. She heard loud laughing coming in the direction coming from the throne area. Gwen saw Haskill and ran over to him angrily.

"Did you know what I had to do to get over here? Just to hear your stupid guards greet me five different ways with a trash sniffing face? I had to kill a patched up behemoth with a hook for a hand with a crazy bone obsessed Nord! After that I had to find this stupid palace after being attacked by all kinds of creatures before I got even close to getting here! There better be something good for all that or I'm going back to Cyrodill no matter how interesting and beautiful this place is!" Gweneth poke Haskill in his chest, the man looked annoyed and bored with the whole situation. More laughing came from the throne area and finally Gwen gave the throne a glance. An older looking Imperial was laughing hard at her. Gwen flushed a deep red, finally embarrassed with herself. The man on the throne reminded her of the kinda beautiful three faced flaming door in Niben Bay.

"Who are you?" Gwen boldly asked the laughing man.

"Who am I? Who am I? I missy am lord Sheogorath." He wiped a tear from his eye.

"So... what do you want?" Gwen saw a subtle look go through the Daedric prince's eyes before he responded.

"That is no way to talk to a prince deary, you'll be dead before you realize it if you keep that talk up."

"You don't know who your talking to, I not be a Daedric lord but I can sure as hell kick one's ass around the room." Gwen smirked when he saw Sheogorath's eyes brighten up.

"Feisty one isn't she Haskill?" Sheogorath grinned like a child that was handed a piece of candy.

"Yes sir, a complete handful." Haskill glanced at Gwen before returning to his master.

"Why am I here?" Gwen felt a little tired so she sat on the ground in front of Sheogorath. He smiled and began to speak.

"You are here to stop Jyggalag! He's the Daedric prince of order, he's a real boring guy; messes all of my plans up. Anyways he is going to start the Greymarch, it happens at the end of every era around here. I cant stand him doing it one more time so your going to stop it and be my champion. Right now I need you to reactivate the Xedilian since you so kindly killed my Gatekeeper! Here is the manual and the Attenuator of Judgment. With those two things you can't fail! Well you could... and you would have a big problem. I don't think you want that problem do you?" Sheogorath finished menacingly. A shiver went down Gwen's spine, out of fear or something else she couldn't tell.

"So Haskill, whats with the Xiedilian Manuel? Anything really important in it for me to read?"

"Yes? Ah... Silly me. The book has no pictures. Can't really expect you to read that, now can I?" Haskill dodged the Manuel that came for his head.

"Your a Douche Bag." Gwen growled out and stood up. Sheogorath was laughing again at her.

"...What?" Gwen felt her face heat up again, he really knew how to embarrass her quickly.

"What is important is getting to Xedilian. Quickly. Before I get bored. You wouldn't like me when I'm bored." Sheogorath stood up and waved to the beet red imperial girl. "Ta! Come visit again! Or I'll pluck out your eyes. Hahaha!" Sheogorath transported Gwen outside of his palace, making her blink in confusion.

"How the fuck did he do that?" Gwen shook her head and made her way to Xedilian.

x-x

Reviews are very much welcome.

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	3. Xedilian

-Before Time Runs Out-

Disclaimer: I do not own Oblivion, or anything that involves Elder Scrolls games.

x-x

"Xedilian. This place looks like a broken down ruin." Gweneth sighed as she opened the door to enter.

The inside was very dark she quickly noted, and there had to be some sort of creatures that had inhabited the building after a long time of not using it. Gweneth was right when she snuck around a toad-like creature, it disgusted her so she silently cut it down with her blade of woe. A few more were located on the first level and it didn't take long that they were using crystals to enhance their poor weapons. She needed those crystals to power the Xedilian, Gwen read in the Manuel.

After cutting down many 'frogmen' Gwen nicknamed them, she finally had collected all the crystals and put them in their proper places. A man appeared in front of her dressed in a robe, he looked positively excited to see her in the Xedilian.

"Hello." Gwen stared at the happy man.

"Hello! My name is Kiliban Nyrandil. I'm glad I was summoned here, that means that you reactivated the Xedilian! That's great news, would you like to test it? I assure you that it is quite enjoyable, and you get to keep everything from the adventurer's." The man pointed to a portal. "All we have to do is go through there."

"...Sure." Gwen took the man's hand and allowed him to lead her to the Xedilian chambers.

"The Resonator works by drawing adventurer's to itself with a sort of magical 'siren's call'. Sheogorath uses the Resonator to find the 'cream of the crop' as he calls them; the best of the worst to populate the Isles. Quite clever, eh? As the adventurer's make their way through Xedilian's chambers, they will encounter choices that you make in these control platforms. Each chamber presents two options. When you push the appropriate button, an event will unfold for the adventurer's to experience. One is physically harmful... usually lethal traps or creatures... something relished by the residents of Dementia. The other choice is more mental. They are designed to make the adventurer's lose grip on reality, much like the residents of Mania." Gwen looked around the room and noticed the blocks on the wall with strange faces. Three adventurer's entered the room to see a tiny Gnarl in the middle, the men taunted the creature while Kiliban explained the buttons.

"At the touch of a button, you can cause a large group of tiny Gnarls to appear and attack the adventurer's. Or if your feeling merciful, we can have the group terrorized by a seemingly lowly Gnarl that instantly grows twice its size! The hallucinogenic spore gas we release into the chamber will help lull the victims into believing the creature means to kill them. Don't worry, its bark is far worse then its bite."

"Think I'll choose the giant Gnarl, I'm an adventurer too (even though I told Barus that I was a Ninja...) so I have some sympathy towards them." Gwen pushed the button on the wall that read Giant Gnarl.

The three adventurer's became extremely frightened as they saw the tiny creature grow twice its size and tower over them. The Orc yelled to his men to fight it, to which extent they did. After the Gnarl faded away one of the adventurers became insane. His mind cracked under the fear and pressure. He rocked in a fetal position the whole time until the Orc and Elf decided to leave him.

Gwen let Kiliban lead her to the next room where the two remaining adventurers would be, she quickly noticed some high pitched whistling and applaud at the bottom of the room. She leaned over the fence to see the men talking excitedly around a cage locked but filled with all kinds of treasure.

"The second chamber of Xedilian is the chamber of Avarice. The adventurers will have to overcome their feelings of greed as they set their eyes upon the huge piles of treasure locked behind the gate. You may choose to sprig up a fire trap and cause them great harm as they stand before the gate. Or, you can fill the chamber with hundreds of keys and watch them frantically search for the correct one. Always a crowd pleaser."

"I really do not want death of my fellow kind, so the keys should just do fine." Gwen pushed the button that released thousands of keys to fall out of the chamber, making the adventurer Syndelius to go insane while rummaging through the endless amounts of keys that would never work. Grommok the Orc continued to the next room after trying to snap his friend out of the illusion to no avail.

"The third chamber of Xedilian is the chamber of Anathema. Its contents are designed to make sure it's the final encounter. The adventurers will be subject to horrors beyond their imagination... visions of repugnance, death and malevolence reside in this room. If you wish to bring ruin to your victims, you may choose to animate some of the corpses and watch as they satiate their hunger. Or, we can create the illusion of the adventurer dying and his spirit rising from his corpse. Good fun to be had by all! Then, just as suddenly as we kill him, we revive the adventurer. There are few minds that can stand this type of torture."

"I've gotta see that." Gweneth's eyes lit up excitedly as she pushed the button. Grommok was already shaken up from the last two chambers but the third one broke him. As he looked onto his corpse on the ground with the others along with it, he started to cry and mumbled scared things. When his spirit was put back into his body, he became terrified and insane. He rambled about his experience to the hanging zombie-like corpses hanging on strings and bolted to walls. Gwen and Kiliban left the insane Orc to himself to go to the main room.

"As is the tradition, you are to be rewarded a focus crystal of your fine work. I'll have it sent to the palace placed in the main hall, if you wish to take a look at it. Oh yes... or course. It seems a most unusual weapon was recovered from the Orc warrior, Grommok. Never seen anything like it, but perhaps his journal can give you some useful information. Beyond that, take whatever you need from the recovery chest... you've earned it! You're free to go at any time of course, just up the hallway. Good luck to you!" Kiliban walked away from Gwen after he handed Grommok's mysterious sword and journal to her. Gwen read the journal for a few minutes before staring at her new sword.

"Dawn Fang? Dusk Fang? Hmmm... I think I might like you." Gwen smiled up at her Dawn Fang as she set it on her side.

Gweneth took the only items that interested her inside the chest, which wasn't much considering that the adventurer's were from Tamriel. As the imperial walked past the gate filled with the three insane men she smiled.

"Hey at least you guys aren't dead. If you knew what I've been through then you would have gone insane or be dead a long time ago." Gwen waved to the broken men as she made her way to the exit. At the entrance was three Knights, they spotted her and unsheathed their swords. Gwen dropped her pack to the ground and unsheathed Dawn Fang.

"What do you want?" Gwen glared at the knights, they swung their swords at her from every angle. One managed to cut her arm, making her blood flow freely down her side. Gweneth charged for a knight and beheaded him, she was entirely irritated and didn't want to play around with them much longer. Another knight landed a deep gash to her thigh causing her to fall to the ground in pain. Gwen gritted her teeth and mumbled a few words, electric bolt emitted from her body when two swords touched her body. The knights fell back, one of them dead and the other standing up a few seconds after his fall. Gwen got on her knees and prepared for the knight's next blow, she knew that it was aimed for her head.

"Thank you Lucien..." Gwen sighed sadly as she unwrapped an aged scroll that was given to her by a dear person years ago. The ghost of Rufio came out angrily and attacked the knight aiming for Gwen's head. The knight instantly became distracted with Rufio's ghost, Gwen used that time to chug down a few healing potions and pull out her arrows along with Shadowhunt.

"Hit the mark." Gwen whispered to her arrow, she couldn't afford to be in close combat with the Knight, the pain would be too great for her to handle. The marks and gashes may have been healed but it took days, maybe even weeks for the pain to go away.

"Raaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" The Knight screamed out as a silver enchanted arrow collided with his helmet, the enchantment allowed it to get past the plate of metal and sink into his skull killing him.

"What the hell is all that? What are those beings?" Gwen nearly screamed at Kiliban who looked to be shaken up.

"You've not heard the legends? How could that be? Those 'beings' as you call them aren't beings at all. They are the soulless abominations known as the Knights of Order. Their attraction to the Resonator isn't surprising; it was built from one of the Obelisks that dot the Isles they seem to have an affinity for. You must proceed to Sheogorath at once and tell him the Knights have returned! Quickly now... go!" Kiliban pushed Gwen out of the Xedilian.

"...I said I wanted some adventurer... I guess I got it." Gweneth sighed as she made her way back to the palace.

-xxxxxxxx-

"Hello! Welcome back Deary! How was your stay at the Xedilian?" Sheogorath leaned forward in his chair excited.

"I got attacked by some weird Knights. Kiliban says that they are apart of the Knights of Order." Gwen sat down on the red and green carpet of the throne room, exhausted.

"Oh no... thats bad. I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon." Sheogorath mumbled to himself, uncharacteristicly calm.

"Whats bad and happening soon?" Gwen raised her eyebrow in a tired question.

"The Greymarch. It happens after every Era of mine. Jyggalag always comes to mess everything up. Its quite annoying really. So I need you to stop it."

"How do I do that?" Gwen laid on her back, only listening to the madgod now.

"Haskill will explain how to later, but for now I need you to become familiar with the houses of Dementia and Mania... learn the ways of the houses and help them in any task that they need. Oh and before you leave I need to give you a little present. Here. I grant you the power to summon Haskill at any time or place within the Isles. Go on. Try it out."

"Okay.." Gwen summoned Haskill before her.

"Ah... our lord has granted you the power to summon me. Gow wonderful for me."

"Again! Try it again!" Sheogorath laughed in his chair. Gwen summoned Haskill a second time.

"Ah, summoned again. My lord does so enjoy that, as is His prerogative. I'll assume you're done for now." Haskill walked to his place next to the madgod.

"Yeah right, you wish Monkey Boy." Gwen summoned Haskill multiple times, everything he said was different each time:

"Yes, you've gotten rather proficient with your new ability. As I said, try not to abuse your power."

"Have we not covered this? I believe you've mastered your new skill."

"I was right here. You could have just walked over to me."

"I assume your having fun?"

"Might we stop this now?"

"Surely, you have something better to do."

"Well done. Summoned again. I applaud you."

"What a surprise. I'm summoned. Your skill in repetition is truly astounding."

"Clever, you've summoned me again. My lord has made quite a choice for his champion."

"That's enough. Really." Haskill glared at the imperial woman before him, she grinned on the ground still.

"Hahahaha!" Sheogorath nearly fell out of his throne laughing so hard, Gwen blushed and got up from the floor.

"So... who's this Jyggalag guy?"

"He's the Daedric prince of order! Or biscuits... No. Order. And not in the good way. Bleak. Colorless. Dead. Boring, boring, boring."

"New Sheoth... what is it?" Gwen fought down her blush as she asked random questions to keep him distracted.

"Ah... New Sheoth. My home away from places that aren't my home. The current location is much better than some prior ones. Don't you think?"

"Uhmn yeah sure. I think that I'll get going now... work to do and all that." Gweneth's face turned a deep red as she ran out of the palace.

"The girl seems to have a slight infatuation for you my lord." Haskill turned to a distracted Sheogorath.

"What? Haskill did you notice that no one in the Isles has an accent? Do people in Cyrodill have accents? What is an accent anyway?" Sheogorath smiled at his servant.

"...Never mind." Haskill sighed and returned to his post.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

This is where I'll steer off from the main quest for awhile during Gwen's mission.

The romance is gonna be hard

But I'll try to make it work.

Reviews are welcome

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	4. Flash Backs And Addictions

-Before Time Runs Out-

A/N- Thank you so much for the reviews! I know that most Oblivion fics never get any reviews so it means a lot to me... Haha maybe I could end up being one of those authors with the 300+ reviews. That would be nice but its all up to you guys.

Thank you: KMN91 and Sephira The Wicked!

Disclaimer: I do not own Oblivion.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"Why am I blushing so much around that man?" Gwen slapped herself a few times before sitting on the stairway leading to the palace. "I haven't had that problem since Ma- …..Martin." A flash back ran through her mind, taking over her completely.

"_Hey your Martin the priest right?" A younger Gwen of age nineteen ran up to a busy older priest consoling a surviving woman from Kvatch._

"_Yes. What is it you need from me?" Martin left the woman's side to speak with Gwen. The chapel became noisy as Gwen brought along a few imperial soldiers that spoke to the Kvatch guards and captain Savlian Matius, word of the Oblivion gate being closed slowly spread through the chapel._

"_I need you to come back with me." Gwen motioned for the chapel door, she was currently running on pure adrenaline at the moment after closing the Oblivion gate outside and fighting against Daedric creatures._

"_Why? I will not go without an explanation, the people need me here." With Martin's eyes cast down, his mouth deepened into a hard frown._

"_Your the emperor's son!" Gwen nearly shouted, her eyesight gave out on her for a second. Running all around Cyrodill had spent her beyond her limits. When she had her vision back, Martin had covered her mouth and led her to a dark corner of the chapel._

"_My father was a farmer." Martin growled low into her ear, it was obvious that his patience was wearing thin._

"_Your his illegitimate son. He hid you away! All of his sons are dead including himself! Your the only Septim left Martin." Gwen pried his hand off of her mouth with a deep crimson blush forming on her face. Their proximity was finally becoming a problem to her, she had orders to retrieve him- not let him pin her against a wall in anger because she spoke the truth. It didn't help that most of the time after her courage faded away, modesty and shyness always prevailed._

"_How am I supposed to believe the Daedric Prince of Destruction demolished an entire city just to get at me." Martin leaned away from Gwen, much to her relief._

"_You just do. Jauffre sent me to get you. Trust me. I have no reason to kill you." Gwen searched his troubled weary eyes until he closed them and sighed._

"_Has the Oblivion gate outside been closed?" Martin looked twice his age as he waited for her answer._

"_Yes, I closed it already. Everyone is safe to leave. Jauffre wants you to come to Weynon Priory. He has the amulet of kings with him. Will you come with me?" Gwen stepped back to lean against the wall._

"_Since everyone is safe and I have nowhere else to go then, yes. I will go with you." Martin's frown lessened, his face appeared closer to his age._

"_Great! Okay lets head on out! Your going to have to sit behind me on Shadowmere. She can take us faster than any horse!" Gwen grabbed Martin's hand and grinned while dragging him past the dead Daedra._

"_Alright. Where might your horse be?" Martin picked up his pace to stay with his imperial companion._

"_She's just outside the ga-" Gweneth blacked out on the cobble stone below her. Martin paused to stare at her slumbering form, checked her for any injuries, then carried her in his arms outside with ease._

"_What happened to her?" An imperial guard asked Martin as he passed by him to mount Shadowmere._

"_She wore herself out it seems." Martin laid Gwen down on Shadowmere's back. She knew that Martin meant no harm._

"_What... what happened?" Gwen woke up hours later in Martin's arms riding on Shadowmere. They were a few hours away from Chorrol._

"_You blacked out. Do not fret, we are on our way to Weynon Priory as we speak." Martin smiled slightly, Gwen blushed in embarrassment._

"_I'm sorry. I should have rested at the chapel before taking you with me. I was just so excited to find you, to know that you could save the empire..." Gweneth sighed and her face reddened more._

"_I'm flattered that you would go so far for me. Such a pretty woman risking her life for me... its a shame that she is unavailable, too busy with being a hero for Tamriel." Martin stroked Gweneth's elongating hair. She instinctively leaned into his touch._

"_Ah- I'm not too busy for anything, let alone a prince." Gwen blushed harder, she never took this man to be a flirt- especially after such an event. Was he just looking for comfort?_

"_Hm. I'd like to get to know you more. What is your name?" Martin commanded Shadowmere to speed up._

"_Gweneth." Her sight became blurry again as she blacked out. The rhythmic sounds of Shadowmere's galloping and the warmness radiating off of Martin's clothing lulled her, she only woke up when they entered the dense forest. She could never explained if the last words she heard him say was apart of a dream or reality, throughout their time together she always wanted to ask him._

"_Did the gods send this woman to me? Is she the one who will stand by my side? I... hope this is the one for me, I need a sign."_

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"I'm sorry that sign never came Martin. I would have liked to spend the rest of my life with you, being in your protective arms. But I guess the gods never wanted us to be..." Gweneth stood up from her seat on the stairs. "Just like Lucien... and Vicente were never meant to be with me either..." Gwen let her mind drift again, repeating a familiar memory. Her first man she loved, her first heart break, and a man that swept her away and broke her heart with one empty promise.

"_You sleep rather soundly for a murderer." Lucien Lachance awoke a fifteen year old Gweneth from her bedroll in a camp near the imperial city sewers._

"_Who are you?" Gwen stood up from her bed quickly, pulling out her rusty iron dagger._

"_I am Lucien Lachance, speaker for the Dark Brotherhood. I am here to offer you a place in my family." Lucien smiled darkly at the girl._

"_You mean to join the Dark Brotherhood? How would I do that?" She felt intimidated but she knew that she was safe as long as she didn't press on the slightly older imperials buttons._

"_Take this, its a gift from my family. If you go and kill a man named Rufio you will be welcomed warmly into my family. He spends the rest of his days at the Inn of Ill Omen. Go there and kill him, once you do- sleep and I shall come to you when it is safe." Lucien handed Gweneth a ebony dagger. "It is a virgin blade and thirsts for blood... what are you doing?"_

"_Huh? Oh I was just admiring your eyes, they look like a mix of green and brown with little specks of gold. Is that natural?" Gwen continued to stare at Lucien's eyes while fingering her new dagger._

"_Yes. I have not altered my eye color in any way." Lucien gave her an odd look, she immediately started to blush and look down._

"_I'm sorry, they are just so beautiful. Ah!" Gweneth winced, she had cut her thumb on her ebony dagger._

"_I never would have guessed that the blade of woe's first taste of blood would be from its own owner, how unique." Lucien held Gwen's hand as he healed it perfectly, it looked as if it were never cut._

"_Thank you Mr. Lachance." Gweneth took her hand back shyly._

"_Think nothing of it, complete the mission and I will return to you shortly." Lucien smiled a knowing smile that suggested he knew a little more about herself than she did. A warm shiver ran up Gweneth's spine, her blush never left her face until hours later._

_-xxxxxx-_

"_Welcome to our Family Gweneth." Ocheeva greeted warmly, she had never felt more welcome in her life._

"_Thank you. Is there any missions I can do right now? I don't really like introductions and would like to do the best I possibly can immediately." Gweneth felt a little embarrassed for her reasons, she was really a shy person._

"_Yes you can. If you go down this hall, take a right and go down and then a left you will be at a door. A man named Vicente will be handling all of the contracts you will get until you advance to a high enough rank where I will be handling your orders. But that wont be for a while I'm sure." Ocheeva dismissed Gwen, she roamed around the halls curiously every so often speaking with her new family members until she came across the door Ocheeva was talking to her about._

_Gweneth hesitated, she felt... highly unsure if she should open the door but something within her told her to do so. She quietly and slowing opened the door only to find no one within the room. She roamed around the length and still found nothing. Only when did she feel a tap on her shoulder, she turned to find a vampire looking right back at her. Gwen nearly screamed in shock but chose to fall on her knees in lightheadedness instead. She felt the vampire pick her up, he chuckled at her antics and sat her in a chair._

"_Hello dear sister. It seems you have taken quite a shock to my appearance. Rest assured that my duties for the brotherhood come before my needs as a vampire." Vicente smiled warmly, his fangs poked out underneath his lips. Gwen almost giggled, she felt completely delusional._

"_You have cute teeth." Gwen mumbled. Her mind was beyond frazzled lately, she had only escaped the sewers a week ago. How did she get wrangled into this? Oh yeah she murdered someone... but they ate her sweet roll. The beggar shouldn't have mocked her for months and stole her things. The sweet roll set her off the deep end and she killed the man in his sleep, too bad for her another beggar sounded the alarm. Those beggars got enough from the 'Gray Fox', why did they have to terrorize her too? She barely had enough money for food and was already terrorized by others added onto her time in adventuring new places. Her mind snapped, it still hasn't recovered yet._

"_Thank you, you have very beautiful hair. What is your name sister?" Vicente's hand twitched, Gwen noted._

"_Gweneth." She took his hand and ran it through her growing ebony locks. He smiled again, his teeth became more pronounced and she giggled._

"_I think we may become great friends Gwen." Vicente smiled and spoke to her about her first contract and the best way to go about it._

_Vicente after that avidly started conversations with her, always challenging her on different levels. They became close as she slowly completed her contracts, she didn't want to loose contact with her friend if she were promoted too many times. Eventually she was promoted and reassigned to Ocheeva. The days she stayed in the Sanctuary though, Vicente would come to her bedside at night or she to his. Talking for all hours of the day, their bond became close- too close for any brother or sister should be but they would never admit it to themselves. One night after a mission completed by Gwen, she walked straight into Vicente's room and laid down on the cement bed next to him._

"_I missed you." Gwen whispered to her vampire. They had over the year given each other nicknames. She often called him her vamp playfully. He his beloved. Gwen was sixteen and a half and madly in love with a vampire three hundred years old. She had never told Vicente that she did, she hoped that he would be able to tell from just her body language and use of her words. Gwen secretly wondered if she felt the same, he always seemed to treat her better than the others even though they were all just technically friends... except for Tenniava and Grogan, they were obviously in love- there were no rules against having a relationship within the brotherhood but it was sometimes frowned upon depending on who it was. She didn't care._

"_And I you, Beloved." Vicente turned her way and smiled, his orange-red eyes warmed when he looked at her._

"_Ocheeva says that she received a letter from the Black Hand for me. I haven't opened it yet, I'm afraid of what it is." Gwen nuzzled her head in the crook of Vicente's neck._

"_Do not be intimidated by the black hand sister, They are just a more important part of our family is all." Vicente wrapped his arms around her waist, he knew their position was wrong... but he couldn't help it, the woman called to him in many ways he never knew existed._

"_I know but... I feel like something bad will happen. Like a major part of my life will be changed, I don't know what it is though. It cant be good." The young Gwen felt like crying, she often had a knack for feeling the events of the future for her and right now her heart felt like it was going to drop. She was scared._

"_Do not worry Beloved, whatever happens I will make sure that your safe. Trust me." Vicente felt a little bolder than usual and kissed Gwen's forehead softly. She began to cry quietly._

"_Vicente I-" The vampire's door was knocked on loudly. Vicente hushed Gwen and sent her up his trap door to Ocheeva's room._

"_Brother, we need your help in the common room, Grogan seems to have accidentally hit the skeleton guardian. Your the only one who successfully returns it to it's normal patrol. Please come quickly." Ocheeva spoke from behind the heavy door, footsteps indicated her quick leave._

"_Certainly sister." Vicente sighed and casually walked to the main room. He caught the sight of long ebony hair and paused, his beloved was leaving the sanctuary for her contract._

"_Get it off of me!" Grogan yelled and flailed around the common room, the skeleton guardian had latched itself onto Grogan and was currently attempting to bite his ear off and bashing his skull in with it's silver mace._

"_Hold still dear brother..." Vicente proceeded to command the skeleton with magika._

_-xxxxxxxx-_

"_Fort Farragut." Gwen walked up the steep hill leading to Lucien's quarters. She easily found the trap door in the dead tree near the entrance and crept in. She climbed down the latter slowly not to make any sounds but large hands grabbed her by her waist and she let out a little scream as she fell into a firm chest._

"_So you found my personal entrance, how very clever of you." Lucien's deep voice rumbled through his chest, she felt the vibrations and butterflies appeared in her stomach. She hadn't seen the man in over a year but her mild crush still remained, her guilt rose as an image of her vampire came to mind. She loved Vicente. He was perfect to her, Lucien was just a pretty face and a intelligent mind, right? Gwen felt uneasy. She needed to get her contract orders fast so she could leave and go back to her vamp._

"_Uhmn th-thank you Speaker." Gwen felt her face naturally warming up without her control, just like when they first met._

"_I have a contract that only you can complete." Lucien let Gwen go and sat on his bed nonchalantly._

"_What might that be?" Gwen sat on the cool stone beneath her, Lucien gave her a wide smile from her action._

"_The purification of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. There is a traitor in the midst of our Brotherhood. Their actions were noticed before your entering of the family so you were ruled out immediately as the traitor. The path of the traitor itself was tracked to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. We are unsure of who it is so we feel that it is necessary for a purification. They will be sent to the dread father with honor if they are innocent."_

"_Killing off every member of my family?" Gwen's eyes widened, her heart skipped a beat, and her brain froze._

"_Yes, you will not be punished for killing them, for the purification is ordered by the black hand itself. You have as much time as you need to finish the contract. Here take this." Lucien handed Gwen a scroll. "This scroll contains the angry vengeful spirit of Rufio, when called upon he will attack your enemy relentlessly."_

"_Rufio... the man I killed. Won't he come and attack me when he sees me?" Gwen tried to focus on her contract but her mind kept returning to Vicente. She was ordered to kill him?_

"_He wont, the scroll itself will protect you from him attacking you. Do not worry, as an extra precaution for your protection I will give you a few poison apples. Take all the food away in the eating area and Ocheeva's barrel, one by one they will fall. Some do not eat in the Sanctuary so you will have to kill them yourself sometime or another you will have to deal with them yourself. Take as much time as you need, this task is a tremendous one." Lucien smiled and handed her multiple poison apples. Gwen felt her hands shaking as she put the items in her pack._

"_May the Night Mother grace you with her cold loving caress." Gwen fought the tears that filled her eyes. Her voice shook when she spoke._

"_Are you alright sister?" Lucien took her off the rope latter she began to climb up, she broke down into tears outwardly._

"_Yes I'm fine brother, I am just having a few problems. I will complete the contract as soon as I can." Gwen reached for the ladder but her hand was taken back from the rope._

"_The family can sort out any kind of problem you have sister, what is wrong? Tell me." Lucien moved Gwen to his bed in the corner of his chambers. She sat on his bed for minutes before talking._

"_Can you... keep a secret?" Gwen hiccuped, her mind had officially became lost to her._

"_Yes. I wouldn't be a Speaker if I told lies." Lucien sat next to her, it was comforting in a way._

"_I am in love... with one of our brothers." Gwen wept. Lucien stayed silent, he listened to her cry for minutes. He only chose to speak when she calmed down enough._

"_I'm sorry for your predicament. But you must follow your contract through if you wish to not betray the family. Your duty to your family is more important than your heart. You will be rewarded one day, I promise you. Vicente was never capable to be with you anyways. He wasn't.. suitable for such a great assassin. He wasn't worthy of taking your heart." Lucien moved Gwen off his bed and led her to the rope ladder._

"_How did you know it was Vicente?" Gwen wiped a few stray tears off her reddened cheeks._

"_He is quite a charming man, lonely, and the only human male in the Sanctuary besides myself. It wasn't hard to notice you being beguiled by the vampire Breton. I'm surprised that such a wild Imperial would fall for a tame Breton, even as a vampire he is tame and hardly goes out on contracts himself. Your choice in men has sadly put you in a difficult position, betray the Dark Brotherhood and run all of your life for a vampire that might not even love you back and go with you or kill the man you proclaim to love for the safety of your dear family. The choice is yours but I assure you that whatever you make final, you will always regret not doing the other. Make your final moments with him special sister... for you will never see him again." Lucien let his eyes gaze into Gwen's tear stained ones, he gave her a knowing look and a soft smile._

_Gwen turned around fully to hug him, he at first didn't accept it and tensed but after a few moments he relaxed and enveloped her in a strong warm embrace. She cried into his cloaked chest, her heart was breaking slowly. She had never known that she would have to kill the very man she loved. Would Vicente kill her? He was surely strong enough to kill her in one swift action. How would she go about killing her family? She never had a real one and they were the closest thing to it in her life. Lucien seemed to understand her agony and it comforted her, knowing that she wasn't alone in her turmoil. It just bothered her that he said such cruel things about the man she loved, she saw his points perfectly though. She knew that she was in love with a tame vampire, a Breton no less. But she loved him completely, her heart belonged to him. She didn't know what to do._

"_Th-thank you. I will... c-complete the contract." Gwen let go of Lucien and put her hand on the rope ladder._

"_I will be here if you need me dear sister." Lucien walked to his desk and smiled back at her. She tried to smile back for his kindness but failed miserably. She climbed the latter slowly, her soft pants from the over exertion of crying was easily heard throughout Lucien's chamber._

_-xxxxxxxxxx-_

Gwen shook her head roughly. She didn't want to remember anything after that, it broke her heart too much. Those two days were hell for her, she never wanted to go through that kind of heart break again... but it did happen again with Lucien and Martin. She swore to lock her heart away after that, to never fall in love with another man for it only caused her pain. But she recognized the signs immediately inside of Sheogorath's throne room, if she didn't watch herself she would fall again... and he would die. They always died when she fell in love, she believed it to be a curse. She never understood why she was cursed, but she learned of how to not having to deal with it- steeling her heart over. No man was strong enough to withstand her very own brand of poison.

"I'll go talk to the Duke of Mania first then..." Gwen walked towards the golden saints guarding the Mania palace room. She entered the brightly lit room and felt herself feel a little better, a funny looking man was eating with his subjects at a buffet table.

"Excuse me. Are you Thadon?" Gwen tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Yes. Who are you?" Thadon put his fork down.

"Gweneth. Lord Sheogorath wants me to help you with any task you want." Gwen rolled her head, her neck started to tighten up on her.

"Oh how wonderful! You see..." Gwen drowned out his senseless babbling, nodding and giving the appropriate reply when needed.

"So you want me to retrieve this Chalice of Reversal?" Gwen told herself to ask around Syl's court about it.

"Yes! Do so quickly now, I miss it very much!" Thadon waved Gwen off.

"Mhm." Gwen closed the door behind her, she kept her pace quick all the way to Syl's court, never looking at the grinning Daedric prince watching her jog down the hall. Haskill mumbled something to the prince which caused him to cackle loudly, it echoed through her bones.

Gwen shut another door behind her, the palace door. She let go of a big sigh and forced herself to walk into Syl's court. Syl gave her a cold calculating look but Gwen wasn't there for the Duchess yet, she needed to talk to her people. One of Syl's men sensed this and motioned for her to talk to him, he was a Redguard.

"Do you need anything?" The Redguard asked Gwen, she later found out that the man's name was Kithlan.

"I'm looking for the Chalice of Reversal for Thadon. Do you have any information about it?" Gwen tried her best to smile for the rough Redguard.

"Yes I do, the chalice is in Dunroot Burrow. You need to use Feldew to enter, and there are Elytra swarming throughout the place. Feldew is a poison, and it will kill you. It is stupid to go in there for that addict but its your life. Don't say I warned you."

"Feldew is a poison?" Gwen blinked at the man, so Thadon was an addict with little sanity left of him.

"Did you just hear what I said? Yes Feldew is a poison, you could and most likely will die by using it and not getting the chalice in time through Dunroot Burrow." Kithlan glared.

"Okay, thank you so much. You were very helpful to me." Gwen shook his hand and walked out the door to the outside. She didn't want to have to be stared at by the madgod again. It unnerved her, she had to stay on track.

Gwen trekked her way to Dunroot Burrow with ease, the animals and creatures were no match for her after she had the encounter with the Knights of Order. She had gained entrance after slaying a large Elytra containing Feldew inside of it, she roamed the caves for hours. Her addiction became apparent to her after with-drawls ran through her with the power of a horse. She stayed couched mostly, to hold in her pain and to sneak past the Elytra scattered all around the caves. She inwardly chanted to herself that there would be Feldew inside of the bodies but always knew that it was the green glowing ones she wanted. She killed them all. Eventually she made it to a large door, Gwen knew she had finally arrived. Her addiction grew worse every passing moment so she rushed through the doors in a slight panic.

"You'll never take our chalice!" An addict ran at her in a drug induced rage, Gwen pulled out a katana enchanted with fire damaging capabilities and swung at the woman's body. The addict instantly became engulfed in a plume of flames, she screamed until her death as a burnt corpse. More people allied with the now dead woman ran at Gweneth with enchanted daggers and maces. She felt encumbered and was stuck in place to the ground, Gwen tried her best to defend her spot. Many burnt bodies surrounded her when she finished the last one off, she fell to the floor in convulsions. Her heart felt like it was on fire and bricks were pressed against her chest. Gwen crawled on the floor whimpering, she hated what the Feldew did to her. It took her minutes to get to the pedestal holding the Chalice of Reversal. She yelled out and knocked the pedestal down, the chalice fell to the ground on the soft red carpet. She hoped that the chalice wouldn't crack. The drop made a soft sound so she was unsure about the outcome. Gwen crawled a little farther and grabbed the chalice off the floor.

"Yes." Gwen sighed happily, she felt relieved. The chalice wasn't cracked and her addiction felt gone, she was able to get up and take the chalice itself to Thadon.

The trek back was slower than she realized, even though her addiction had disappeared Gwen felt sluggish and fatigued. It confused her as to why, her life had finally had some adventure to it. Things weren't boring anymore, she didn't have time to mourn anymore and she was glad for that. Gwen hated the free time, it always made her think back... back to her past mistakes, the deaths she made voluntarily and involuntarily. She often thought them over, mostly the deaths of her loved ones: Vicente, Lucien, Martin, her Dark Brotherhood family, and the innocent Black Hand members she unknowingly killed. Her regret was too much on certain days and she would usually break down in uncontrollable tears the result ending in a more shattered her heart than before. Gwen hoped that this wouldn't be one of those days.

"Here." Gwen handed the chalice to Thadon. His eyes lit up and the Duke grinned like a child.

"Ah! Thank you!" Thadon took the chalice, he rambled for a few more minutes before running off to his quarters. Gwen sighed and pushed the door open to Sheogorath's palace, she didn't feel like walking around to get to Syl's court.

Gwen walked slowly through the door, she glanced at the madgod. He was happily chatting away with Haskill that seemed to be mildly entertained. Gwen kept to the shadows, she let her eyes linger on the sight of them though. When she reached the middle of the back end of the room, Sheogorath looked up. He stared at her intently, she paused from walking. Sheogorath gave her a smirk and returned to Haskill. Gwen felt a warm shiver run up her spine, his eyes haunted her the rest of the day. The orange and blue flames accented them nicely. The young imperial forced herself to Syl's court, she had business to attend to.

"My champion is doing a fine job isn't she Haskill?" Sheogorath asked when Gweneth closed the door behind her. He found her quite interesting, a present for her hard work was forming in his mind.

"Yes Milord." Haskill nodded, he didn't like to share his opinion much on her for it was rarely a good one. Sheogorath laughed and continued his conversation on cheese and Khajiit's.

-xxxxxxx-

Reviews would be pretty awesome.

Thanks for reading.

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	5. Business And Dinner

-Before Time Runs Out-

A/N- Hey thanks so much for the reviews! I didn't expect more than a few, so I'm happy that I got more than expected. If you have any comments, concerns, or helpful tips on the story- let me know in a review. That's the easiest way you will be heard, and answered. So yeah, thanks everyone who takes an interest in Oblivion romance, let alone one that's main characters is a Daedric prince. I love you! Haha.

-xxxxxx-

"Hello." Gwen greeted Syl, Duchess of Dementia. The woman sneered at her hand, Gwen had extended it for a hand shake with the Duchess. It seems that Syl found Gwen below her... quite below her. Gwen was tempted to slap the snobby elf. If only the woman knew of her accomplishments, her travels, her strength, her turbulent life, only then could she see how much of a bitch she was being. Gwen doubted that it would happen, she had her head so far up her ass she made a home out of it.

"What do you want?" Syl kept her hands comfortably resting on her waist, Gwen put her hand back feeling the sting of rejection.

"Lord Sheogorath has sent me to do a task for you, anything you want." Gwen leaned on her left leg, she was beginning to feel tired.

"Hmmm. I could use someone who isn't known in the Isles... yes yes this is good. I want you to be my Grand Inquisitor. There are people in my court... and in the city who want me dead. I cant have that, so your going to find them. I know everyone in the isles so your perfect for the job. Your not out to kill me, Lord Sheogorath can assure me of that. There are spy's in my court, waiting for me to slip up so they can feed the information to the others that would like to kill me. Speak to as many people as possible, eventually you will find a lead. Herdir will help you along with your quest, he is in the torture chamber right now. Go to him and he will explain the rest." Syl shooed Gwen away from her, the imperial had half a mind to backhand the Duchess.

"This is bullshit, I wanna go back to the Feldew cave..." Gwen grumbled. She didn't want to do the task, she would rather go on another pointless quest for the Duke of Mania. Gwen never liked over confident self centered women.

"Hello. What is it you need?" A man by the name of Herdir asked, his voice sounded very gruff.

"I am the Grand Inquisitor." Gwen shifted on her feet.

"Hm, I was expecting some kind of grand entrance from a person like that, ah well you'll grow into it. I'm sure you will." Herdir smiled warmly at Gwen, she was surprised not to feel irritated around him. Maybe the investigation wasn't going to be so bad.

"I'm sorry, but to get to the task at hand- what am I supposed to do?" Gwen let Herdir walk her out of the torture chambers and into the court.

"Well... ask around town about the conspiracy of the supposed planned assassination of our Duchess. If they do not give any information to you then I'm here to help. I'll torture them for a bit and lets hope we find what we want." Herdir glanced around the court.

"What about him?" Gwen pointed to the Redguard.

"Go for it Grand Inquisitor." Herdir got a gleam in his eye.

"Excuse me." Gwen approached the Redguard that immediately glared at her. "I have a few questions."

"You again? You better make it quick, my patience is wearing thin." Kithlan made a sneer at the imperial.

"Do you know anything of the conspiracy of the planned assassination of Syl?" Gwen stared into his now angry eyes.

"I don't know anything, and if I knew- why would I tell someone like you?"

"Herdir." Gwen backed away to watch her partner electrocute the Redguard with a cruel smile. Kithlan begged for the pain to stop and fell to the floor with a loud thud. He stayed on the floor for a few minutes before he regained himself and whispered in a low voice.

"Okay! Okay! Anya Herrick, she is the one you want. She has been acting nervous and jumpy lately. If anyone knows anything about a conspiracy it would be her."

"Thank you." Gwen nudged Herdir and pointed to Anya nervously staring at her from the corner of the court room. "Torture right away."

"Aye." Herdir ran to Anya with a thunderbolt spell in his hands, by the time Gwen walked over to Anya she was struggling to stand up. Gwen wasn't heartless and helped the courtier up to her feet.

"The conspiracy, do you know anything of it?" Gwen studied the terrified face of Anya closely. It was obvious that she knew something and would give it up if she felt safe.

"They'll kill me if I say anything. They wanted me to give all the information I knew of our Duchess but I haven't refused or accepted. If I don't give them an answer soon it will surely mean my head." Anya whimpered and kept herself from breaking out into a fit of tears.

"You will be safe, I can assure you. If you will just give me anything to go off of, one name, one location, something- and I can make sure that whoever those people want Syl, and soon to be you, are dead."

"Why should I trust you? You could go behind my back and join up with those criminals."Anya held her breath in an attempt to calm herself down.

"I'm not here to rat you out, I'm here to find out who wants Syl dead. If you help me find out who that is then I wont let slip that you had a part- no matter how small it was- in the matter."

"Alright... talk to Ma'zaddha. He was the one threatening me to give him information. I don't think he is the one calling the shots but he would know who is." Anya didn't give Gwen any time to speak for she left the court room in a hurry.

"Herdir, its time to walk into Crucible." Gwen led them around town.

-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx-

"She is doing a fine job isn't she Haskill?" Sheogorath leaned back into his throne, looking at his tall ceiling.

"Yes, she is adapting quickly into our realm." Haskill looked up from some papers that were given to him by a few guards, business pertaining to certain areas of the isles in need of assistance. "Would you like to help the town of... Split. There seems to be trouble erupting there. Would you like to go settle the problem yourself or send some of our own to resolve it?"

"Send some of our men... or women. Whichever you prefer, I honestly think that the women can get more done, they just have some kind of edge to them that men don't. Ah well, send whatever you want- maybe a few skinned hounds too." Sheogorath waved his hand to Haskill, indicating for his servant to leave.

"Aye Milord." Haskill bowed and left the room.

"Women can get more done, they are efficient... and moody... and whiny... but beautiful... elegant... graceful... and a pain in my rear end! Haskill!" Sheogorath summoned a very surprised servant of his.

"Yes Milord?" Haskill knew from his masters mood that he had something potentially dangerous in store for whoever crossed his path, he hoped that he wouldn't be one of them.

"Bring me a table, a long one for I do like the space it gives... and some sort of buffet table with fried slaughter fish, I like slaughter fish. They taste even better fried and with chili sauce. Haskill bring that too, we cant have a proper banquet without chili sauce. I want wine as well. Decorate the place, turn down the flames, remove the guards, bring in a platter of sweet rolls. And make it snappy!" Sheogorath stood up from his throne and opened a door to leave the palace. "I am going for a walk."

"... Of course Milord." Haskill exhaled his breathe he had no idea he was holding.

Sheogorath strolled down the many steps leading to his palace, he had gotten many shocked looks as people noticed him. Did he really stay in his palace for that long? He didn't really know or rather care to know. He was immortal, time meant nothing to him. People died, but he didn't. Haskill wouldn't die. His healer would. His brethren wouldn't die. His champion would. Gweneth would die, and he wouldn't even notice that she would. She would be gone and he wouldn't realize that she left until much time after the fact. Sheogorath didn't like the idea of his champion dying. She had to defeat Jyggalag for him. She had to rise in his ranks. She had to succeed.

Gweneth was completing a task for Syl at the moment he knew, he always knew what she was doing in his realm. She often stayed in one place for a very long time staring at the ground. He guessed that she became trapped in her mind, he wondered what kinds of things would control her so much- a war torn hero with battle scars visible and invisible, a woman who was confident in herself and rarely took anything from anyone, a young Imperial with adventurous eyes. Sheogorath wished that one of his many talents were mind reading, his champion was becoming increasingly interesting.

The Imperial girl walked with another older Imperial in dingy clothing. She led the way with a serious look upon her face. Sheogorath noted that her Dark Brotherhood armor became scuffed and torn in some places, if she weren't careful his Champion would become seriously injured. Herdir's fingers twitched when the two came across a Khajiit in leather armor. Gweneth's pace quickened to approach the cat man. She spoke with him for a few minutes, the Khajiit became angered and yelled at her, threatening things. The Imperial girl stayed calm, spoke a few words to Herdir and moments later the Khajiit male fell to the ground in a bundle of pain from the electrocution. He got up and snarled at Gwen, spitting angry words her and leaving the two alone in the dark Crucible streets. Gwen turned around and spoke to Herdir, he left her to her own devices and went back to his torture chamber in Syl's court.

Sheogorath's Champion looked all around her before crouching into her stealth mode. To all the citizens of Crucible, she had become invisible. But to Sheogorath, he would always see her no matter what she did to herself. Gwen sneaked slowly around walls of buildings, following Ma'zaddha near his house. The Khajiit walked past his house and down to a lower level. Nelrene, an important seducer guard leaned against a staircase Ma'zaddha walked down. They spoke in hushed tones, Gwen quickly found them and listened into their conversation. It was obvious that they were plotting against Syl, but they weren't on top. Someone else were giving them orders. When the conversation ended, Gwen stood up and demanded answers out of the Khajiit. He looked frightened and told her a few things before running away from Gwen. She looked tired and completely angry. The Imperial sighed and trudged her feet back towards the palace.

-xxxxxxxxxxxx-

"All you requested has arrived Milord." Haskill announced in a dry tone. The Daedric prince smiled and sat at the end of a table. Gwen shut the palace door behind her and leaned against it, she heard Haskill say something to her but she was too tired comprehend it. Her body ached and she wanted a bed.

"You are requested to sit in this chair by lord Sheogorath, Champion." Haskill motioned to the throne-like chair at the end of a very large table filled with food of all kinds, it smelled heavenly.

"Leave me... 'lone. Sleepy..." Gwen yawned and wished she had a nightgown of some sort to sleep in besides her leather armor.

"If you do not sit in the chair I will have one of the guards carry you." Haskill tapped his booted foot in annoyance.

"No need for that Haskill, I will get her myself if she cant walk." Sheogorath smiled and leisurely strolled to the young Imperial girl, she had nodded off on the door. He gently wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. Gwen woke up with a start and wriggled herself in Sheogorath's arms. She had no idea where she was, accidentally slapping Sheogorath across his face. "We got a fighter! Haha!"

"Get off... what the- stop! Arrrgghhhh." Gwen woke up completely, she had tears in her eyes. She whined and froze like a statue in the Madgod's arms.

"Wakey wakey my dear." Sheogorath's deep voice rumbled in a threatening way.

"S-s-sorry Milord. I- I didn't mean to-" Gwen's explanation was cut short from a tan finger placed on her lips.

"Shhhhhhh. It was on accident, I know. But if you were really trying to hit me deary, well you would be dead right about now. High as you could possibly be in the Isles and come crashing down you would straight to a cement ground. Splat! Haha! But you would make a very beautiful mess on the ground I am sure."

"B-beautiful mess?" Gwen felt her face changing into a pink and green hybrid color. The only other people that had been commenting on how beautiful she would look dead were necromancers, it unsettled her more that Sheogorath was added to that list.

"Mhmm. Now come and sit my dear." Sheogorath led Gwen to the table, she let him sit her down and pull her chair in. The aroma of the food made her comfortably drowsy and hungry at the same time. She often never had time to eat and relax when she set herself on a mission.

"What is this?" Gwen felt her queasiness leaving her at the sight of Sheogorath sitting on the other side of the long table along with the feeling of her face heating up even more.

"A little dinner, celebration, relaxation time, whichever you want to call it but you deserved it. You helped Thadon and deserve a rest." Sheogorath smiled and dug into his food like a child. "Try the fried slaughter fish, its great! Just ask Haskill!"

"Is it great...?" Gwen looked over to a tired Haskill.

"Yes, simply divine with a splash of chili sauce." Haskill held up a thin red bottle with a green label.

"Okay..." Gwen found the bottle odd looking, she grabbed her plate and tried to make herself a plate but she had a hard time reaching for dishes.

"Make her a plate Haskill." Sheogorath snapped his fingers while eating, he had calmed down the pace of his eating since he had started.

"Aye Milord." Haskill got to work immediately, Gwen stared at him, wondering if he ever ate and if so with who.

"My little Champion... you're thinking again. What of?" Sheogorath sipped his wine.

"Haskill." Gwen blushed causing the Madgod's servant to nearly drop his plate. "I wonder if he eats... and with who."

"He eats with my other servants on his breaks Silly. He may be immortal too but that doesn't stop him from indulging in my little world's delights." Sheogorath smirked at his frazzled servant.

"What delights?" Gwen stared at Haskill returning her plate to her place mat in front of her.

"You will find out soon enough." The Madgod winked and returned to his throne.

"What does that mean Haskill?" Gwen nibbled her food, she enjoyed it but she too became frazzled by the Daedric prince's playful attitude.

"I am not too entirely sure myself Ms. Gweneth." Haskill's face fought a raging blush.

"...Is there a place where I can sleep?" Gwen knew to not ask Haskill about why he was blushing, she was only pushy when she needed to be like when she was given the role of Grand Inquisitor. This wasn't one of those times so she would let her curiosity stay caged up where it mainly belonged. Being an Adventurer allowed curiosity but in front of immortal beings it was not a good place to possibly push buttons, she wasn't immortal... not matter how much she wanted to be.

"Mhm yes, I sent over a roll up bed from storage, put it where you want just do not trespass." Haskill noticed that she finished her plate. "Would you like anymore food Miss?"

"Oh no, I will just grab a sweet roll and go to sleep. I have more work to do tomorrow." Gwen said quickly and grabbed her bed roll and sweet roll in a hurry for outside.

"She gets shy quite fast doesn't she? Especially when I talk to her and watch her. This girl is odd." Sheogorath smiled and played with his staff on his throne, tossing it into the air. "All the more interesting though."

"Why don't you spend more time with her then?" Haskill began to dispose of items on the table.

"You're right! I should do it right now, I have all the time in the world and she doesn't! How convenient!" Sheogorath snapped his fingers and the dinner table disappeared along with the food. "You could have just asked me Haskill, I am here to help... not really but you still could have just asked. I might have said yes and helped."

"Of course Milord." Haskill sighed, he wouldn't have helped. Most likely yell at him and then throw fish at him for asking such a stupid question. There was no point but he would agree with him for less punishment.

-xxxxxxxx-

Gwen put her bedroll down and sat on the sheets. She nibbled on her sweet roll and looked up in the two moon sky, like Tamriel but not. She felt better after eating, but the whole time she noticed the Madgod staring at her. It beyond unnerved her, a Daedric prince staring at her while she ate, albeit a very attractive one but it would have made no difference. If anything it would have made things so much worse, but Gwen decided to only glance at him from time to time. She wondered why she said yes to the Prince's proposal of stopping the Grey March. She was bored yes, but she knew that there was another reason.

The Imperial let loose her long ebony hair and combed her fingers through it. She wished she had brought more clothing than just her armor. It was a necessity but she didn't expect to stay in a town for a while, but then again she didn't expect any of this. A whole new world, a new life... a new crush. Gwen covered her face, she cringed underneath it and laid down on her bedroll. Why did she always have crushes on powerful men? It always went badly, Always. Gwen felt memories pull her into an inescapable trance, haunting memories of her past mistakes and crumbling heart. Gwen closed her eyes slightly, pictures appeared behind her eyes.

"_I love you, no matter what happens to you, no matter what you do in life. Complete your contract!"_

"_He didn't deserve you. I deserve you. I know you love me like I love you Gweneth."_

"_I love you too, Gwen. But we were never meant to be, as much as I curse the stars every night nothing will change. Come, we have an Empire to save."_

"_Vicente! I'm... I'm so sorry! Please... please don't hate me. You told me to, you said it was for the best!"_

"_Lucien! No no no no no no! Oh god kill me instead! Kill me. K-k-kill me... By the Nine, KILL ME INSTEAD!"_

"_Martin... Martin... why? You shattered my heart... it wont heal, I will never love again."_

"My little Champion is wandering off in her mind again. She does that a lot. One would think she has gone mad!" Sheogorath's deep voice penetrated her mind. It ripped her from her memories, like ice cold water being poured into her ear she felt dizzy.

"Sheo... Sh-sh...Sheogorath." Gwen opened her blurry eyes, tan and white was all she could see in front of the navy and pink night sky.

"That's me. Or I think it's me. Who knows, I just control this here place. Now what was my little Champion thinking about? I like to pick new brains, the old ones just go into the pies Haskill makes. Brains are very moist and tender when they get old. You should try one soon, I cant allow my Champion to not eat a brain pie before she stops the Greymarch." Sheogorath helped Gweneth to a sitting position.

"That sounds disgusting. I will stick with food in Cyrodill thank you." Gwen adjusted her leather armor that became increasingly annoying.

"You do not know what you are missing Imperial. You are too young to be making decisions like that, do not shut out unknown things for they might become something you love." Sheogorath watched his night sky with her.

"Is that coming from experience?" Gwen picked up her forgotten sweet roll and started to nibble on it again, she didn't feel like herself at the moment. Her mind dwelled on her flashbacks. She couldn't comprehend that she was having a normal conversation with a Daedric prince not regarding business.

"Yes Little One. Many centuries ago, I used to shut out the unusual... the odd. But something changed within me, my outlook on everything turned upside down. I loved the odd and unusual. I loved many things... and people. But it was taken away from me, over and over. I learned that the things you love, you keep closest to you. Even if you are immortal... nothing lasts forever. Too many things are mortal... short lived... impermanent. Enjoy the things you have in life now while you can. Your life will be gone before you know it." Sheogorath's voice portrayed a sad, regretful, grieving older man. But after he gave her his advice, his voice became chipper like a young man. "So you have to have a slice of brain pie! It's simply wonderful."

"...Thank you." Gwen blushed, she hadn't felt warm inside in a while. Especially on a cold night like this. It amazed her that the Madgod could be so serious at one moment and completely opposite the next. It kept her from not being bored, which she always was after short periods of time. Gwen hadn't spent much time with the Daedric Prince but from what she could tell, he would make a great friend. Too bad he was a very attractive man, the more things he told her the more he appealed to her.

"You can thank me by eating more than just those delicious sweet rolls, they wont save you in a tight spot like other foods could. But who knows... maybe they could. Biscuits would work better, pancakes, toast, almost any other kind of bread is better than a sweet roll. Pumpernickel is a life saver, always have a loaf on you. It still saves lives when it stiffens... if you know how to use it. Not very sure if it kills lives, I might have to try that out..." Sheogorath looked over to Gwen. "You don't talk much do you?"

"No... most of the things I say are... mean or sad. I don't really have a reason to be happy besides the little things in life." Gwen shivered and rubbed her leathered arms.

"Hm. Well you can be happy about me! I make most people happy in my Realm anyways so why not you too?" Sheogorath laughed and stood up. "I better be attending to prince stuff right about now. Haskill doesn't like it when I put off my duties for too long. He whines and gets impatient like a little wife, its so cute. Maybe you could see it one day... if you're not dead by then. Goodnight!" The Madgod left for the palace door, he could be heard laughing loudly before shutting it closed. Gwen wondered what the random laughing was about, did she make a funny face? The Imperial's face heated up at the thought, thoroughly embarrassed.

"No matter how much I want to escape it... every night I relive my memories... please Akotosh... don't let me dream of it again, not tonight." Gweneth quietly begged to the florescent stars in the sky. She knew that her begging wouldn't be heard again, but she always managed to try every night.

"_My Beloved, whats wrong?" The Breton vampire rushed to a young Gweneth's side while she fought off her tears._

"_I... I..." Gwen broke down into tears, Vicente held her close. He consoled her until she regained enough strength to talk. "My c-contract... I have to do it... but I cant." _

"_Why is that? What did your contract involve?" Vicente sat her down on his lap, she found comfort whenever he held her like that._

"_P-Purification... of this Sanctuary." Gwen sobbed into Vicente's shoulder, she felt it stiffen under her._

"_Gweneth... it pains me to say this... but you must go through with it." Vicente's body shook slightly under her. Gwen lifted his lowered face up to see redder eyes and water forming in his eyes._

"_Why? Vicente I love you! I cant kill you. I just cant. I cant kill my family either!" Gwen was quieted by a powerful kiss upon her lips. She cried harder and kissed her lover back with just as much passion as he gave her._

"_You must, if you do not you will die as well. I will die, the Black Hand commands it. If I run, I will still die just never know the hour. I wouldn't want to die by anyone's hand more than yours. I love you Gwen, take my life so I can be content in saving yours." Vicente pulled her Blade Of Woe our of her sheath, pointing it to his chest._

"_No! I wont do it! I wont be able to kill the rest of the family after killing you, I couldn't handle it! I would die anyways!" Gwen lowered her blade that her vampire took._

"_Then I will send as many family members to the void as possible before I die as well." Vicente stood up and set Gwen down to the floor. Her legs shook uncontrollably as she tried to follow him. "Stay right here Beloved, I don't want you to get hurt."_

_Vicente ran towards his family members with all his might, effectively killing off half of his unsuspecting friends. He battled with the skeleton guard and Grogon at the same time, Ocheeva woke up and lunged for her vampire as well. Gwen couldn't stand there and watch so she joined Vicente and killed everyone around them with their team work._

"_Kill me now. It is done." Vicente dropped his elven sword and lowered to his knees._

"_N-No. I cant." Gwen dropped to her knees and embraced her lover, they kissed and consoled for a few minutes before Vicente became impatient._

"_You cant wait any longer. Lucien will get suspicious. Kill me, I will serve our Dread Father in more ways in the Void. I will wait for you when it is your time. You must live on.. love someone else. Please Gwen, do it for me. It is for the best, for both of us."_

"_Alright... Vicente I love you so much. I wish I had told you sooner. I will see you again... in the Void. I will try to live my life for you, I will love for you. I'm sorry I have to do this." Gwen sobbed, her hands shook with her dagger in her hands. Vicente kissed her hands slowly as he held them, remembering his last moments. He told her that it was okay, that it was going to happen one day, he was happy that it was her though. She sobbed harder, he urged her to calm down but in the process in frustrated him. Vicente embraced Gwen for the last time, it was rough but shook her into cold hard reality._

"_I love you, no matter what happens to you, no matter what you do in life. Complete your contract!" Vicente firmly wrapped Gwen's hands around her dagger and drove it through his armor and into his heart. She sobbed and kissed him as his life slipped away._

"_Vicente! I'm... I'm so sorry! Please... please don't hate me. You told me to, you said it was for the best!" Gwen saw Vicente smile and close his vermillion eyes for the last time. The vampire fell back, taking Gwen with him to the ground. She didn't leave his corpse long after the small warmth left it. She didn't bother to remove the blood from her leather. She set that armor aside and removed everyone else's. Gwen ended up wearing Ocheeva's on her way to Fort Farragut. _

_The exchange of her family for a horse didn't seem worth it to her, even though she loved Shadowmere just as much as she did Vicente and Lucien._

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Soooo.

How was that?

I am taking it slow...

Creating more background for our Heroine.

Trying to make Sheogorath not too OCC

Listening to my Reviews.

But still sticking to my rough plot.

Oh this is fun yet so difficult.

I hope you kinda liked it.

Thank You Zaaab! =D

I love you people!

Please Review!

Let me hear your thoughts!

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	6. Mixed Signals

-Before Time Runs Out-

Woah... It's been a while. That happens to me when I do other things, like Xbox Live... Drawing on my new graffic tablet... and just plain old school work. But do not fret! I have not once forgotten about my little gem right here. I just replayed the story line of Shivering Isles so I am motivated to get back on track... and type another chapter for all my current fanfictions. Don't yell at meeeeeee .;

Anywhoooo- I love you guys, I hope you still want more of this because I still want to give you more. On with the story! ;D

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Gwen woke up with a start on her bedroll in front of the palace, a Golden Saint had kicked her in the side and ordered her to leave the palace grounds if she wanted to sleep.

"I'm done now... thanks fuc-" Gwen had been grabbed by her long ebony hair and picked up in an instant. "What the hell? Let me go!"

"Leave the palace grounds immediately or you will have to go to jail." The Golden Saint gave her the bedroll and pointed to the bottom of the stairs towards the entrance of the cities.

"Fine..." Gweneth grumbled and trudged down the stairs, she had to get her armor and weapons fixed anyways.

The streets of Bliss glowed in the morning light, colors of all kinds and glitter were strewn about. If she had not known any better she would have thought that Bliss would be the safest most beautiful place she had ever seen. Thankfully that was not the case for her, she knew that there were raving psycho's littering the streets on all kinds of drugs in their own little world within the Realm. If she ever reproduced and settled down, Gwen knew that she would have to keep more of a close eye on her children than in Crucible.

At least if she chose to bear and raise children in Crucible her children would be wiser to the darker things in life and more grateful for the nicer things in life like the side of Mania... but raising kids in a demented world wouldn't be the smartest thing either. Gwen mulled over the choices while she got her armor and weapons repaired. Would her children defy her in Dementia? Would her children become kidnapped in Mania? How would she be able to protect her offspring until adulthood? As a single parent and ex-adventurer she would know some sort of solution to her problems, maybe not the best solution but a solution nonetheless.

"Single parent?" Gwen's eyes widened. It never occurred to her that there was a high chance that she would have a husband and father figure in her home. She had gotten so used to being alone, she forgot that the person she created a child with would most likely want to be in their life still. For a moment she felt guilty, a one night stand to get pregnant and selfishly raise it all by herself. Gwen knew that it was all hypothetical thinking, she didn't even have a face to the man she now envisioned a family with. Gwen yearned for purpose, to love someone and something unconditionally knowing that the same would not be returned to her for a long while.

"Ma'am?" An Orc amber monger questioned her two little words.

"Oh- I'm sorry. It's nothing. How much was all this by the way?" Gwen pulled out her bottomless coin purse that held the hundreds of thousands of gold coins she carried.

That will be one gold for the armor, and four thousand for all the weapons Ma'am."

"Alright. Here." Gwen held the money out to him, he seemed shocked at her for a moment but quickly grabbed his payment with a smile. "Something wrong Sir?"

"No no no there isn't. It's just usually a customer that racks up that kind of bill can only pay for at most half of it. It was just a pleasant surprise to see myself paid in full for once. I appreciate your business, come back again anytime."

"Ah. Well I am just your friendly run of the mill adventurer that has more luck than any of the rest. Thank you!" Gwen smiled and strode out of the immensely warm shop and into a chilled afternoon air in Bliss. She smiled wider and decided to buy a dress in one of the many local shops, Gwen chose an elegant powder blue gown that looked costly enough... but the price to her was entirely too cheap for she had been used to boots at least costing around ten thousand gold a boot and the rest of an outfit costing well over that. The young imperial girl laid out her bedroll on a high roof and chose to sun bathe the rest of the day away.

"Skin get tanner... I hate being so pale for my race." Gwen whispered and dropped a few fake tears in a mockery of distress.

-xxxxxxxxxxxx-

"Night already?" Gweneth mumbled to herself. She had slept the whole day away in the sun, the young imperial gazed up at the navy and pink night sky with a sigh. At least she was rested and found something to keep her busy until she had to meet up with Ma'zaddha inside of his house. Gwen yawned and stretched out on her bedroll. Fully rested and content but she knew that she had to get moving now or the Khajiit wouldn't give any information to her. Gwen rolled up her bed and made her way to the grungy city of Crucible.

Gweneth silently approached Ma'zaddha's door and knocked on it a few times before she attempted it again. She beat on the door, a bad habit from her childhood, and the dull door creaked open. The girl quickly noticed fresh blood splattered on the flooring, and so she ran through the house to check if Ma'zaddha was okay. She was too late, the Khajiit lay dead in a pool of his own blood inside of his house. Gwen frowned, who found out that she caught Ma'zaddha in criminal acts? Was she that horrible at sneaking around town? The imperial shook her head, no she wasn't. Someone must have known that Ma'zaddha would rat on the conspirator, it had been just her luck that she had gotten a nibble from the rat.

"Now what do I do now?" Gwen mumbled to herself. She wondered if there would be evidence somewhere in the house, he had said that he had something to prove Nerlene guilty. Did Nerlene kill him? No, that would be stupid on her part, and she could easily be traced back to the crime. Someone else committed the act. Most likely the conspirator for Gweneth had yet to find that person and put them to justice. The person must be very clever for Gwen couldn't find a hint of evidence in the main room. The frustrated Imperial bolted up the stairs, she had to find something quick to stay hot on her trail. She had heard some Dark Seducer's outside complaining about the smell of blood, Gwen cursed herself for leaving Ma'zaddha's front door wide open.

Rushing to open chests and cabinets Gwen panicked a bit inside, she had never been caught by guards that much thanks to the special training she got from another Imperial named Marana Rian, a Khajiit by the name of J'baana had helped her master her skill of security before she set her eyes upon Nocturnal's reward: the Skeleton Key. Gwen opened the last cabinet inside of Ma'zaddha's bedroom. A letter and a Mazken sword were stored inside. The Imperial knew instantly that they were the objects that Ma'zaddha had intended to give Gweneth to help pin Nelrene. She had to confront the dark seducer, she would tell her who was in charge of the conspiracy.

"A murder!" Gwen heard a dark seducer call out, she knew more would come soon. If she did not leave immediately she would most likely be pinned for the murder of Ma'zaddha and sent to jail. Gwen knew that she could pay them off but it wasn't like her to do that. She had millions of coins of gold but she would rather not share in a Madgod's realm because she acted naughty. Those guards would have to pry her cold dead hands off of her bottomless coin purse before they got any gold off of her. The only exceptions were beggars, they always got her money in any realm she went to. The Gray Fox gig usually put her in a permanent giving to the poor mood. Wearing the mask almost always tended to let her keep the mentality when not wearing the cowl.

"Shit." Gwen cursed herself. She had been pondering for too long, many dark seducers had entered the home now. With the fire inside of the living room glowing bright, none of her best invisibility potions could mask her completely. They would see the blur in the fire's light and arrest her immediately. It wasn't as if she couldn't kill every one of them where they stood but... the only one that would truly know if she had killed anyone would be Sheogorath... and she didn't want to have to explain why she killed around ten or so Mazken on her mission to find the conspirator of Syl.

"_They wouldn't let me through, they thought I killed Ma'zaddha so I had to kill all of them to get free. Am I in trouble?"_

Gwen did not want to envision a reply to that. Either he would laugh and pat her on the back or smite her where she stood, the Imperial winced and huddled to the ground. Her thoughts had wasted too much time and the dark seducers were climbing up the stairs. Gwen closed the bedroom door and quickly glanced all around the room. No ways of an exit. Gwen waited for the guards to open the door, she carefully slinked past them with well trained skill. The appeared invisible to them until she touched the door handle of Ma'zaddha's front door.

"I smell a mortal..." A dark seducer grumbled and walked back down the steps. Gwen's heart stopped and she ran out the door without any sneak skilled used at all. The guard screamed at her to come back but Gwen just kept running. Quickly the alert caught to most people's ears and townspeople moved to blockade her until a dark seducer arrested her. Gwen punched a few people to get them out of her way but they wouldn't budge and a dog had been sicked on her. Gwen glared at the Orc and his dog smiling proudly at their accomplishment. She could have easily killed them all but she had morals and a heart. But if they pissed her off anymore than they were being at the moment then she would have to slaughter them all in cold blood.

"Your under arrest mortal. For the murder of Ma'zaddha. Pay the fine or go to jail. You're choice." The dark seducer glared at Gwen like she had been gum on the bottom of her boot.

"There's no point to resist because I will kill you all but you just keep coming back because of your stupid immortality... I'd rather not pay the fine because you don't deserve my money... so I guess jail it is. Hurry it up though, I have a quest I'd like to complete before my contractor gets killed... wait, why do I care? No, I don't. Nevermind." Gwen sighed and held out her hands for the cuffs that clamped down onto her wrists.

-xxxxxxxxxxxx-

"So this is jail? Very very much like the caves I have been in here... well, time to break out." Gwen sat up from her bedroll, they had only set her inside of the dungeon about five minutes ago and she had become bored easy enough.

The imperial pushed on the block that released her from her cell. A Grummite walked around a hall in front of her, it noticed her and attacked her without a second thought. Gwen punched the Grummite square in the face and a few more blows to the body before it fell to the ground dead. She had not hesitated to grab the dagger and poison potion on the body. She felt her blood boil, being reminded why she had been sent to jail- a stupid mistake from the guards. The only thing they could have imprisoned her for had been her punching out some of the villagers but she wouldn't have had to attack them if the idiotic Mazken hadn't assumed that she had murdered Ma'zaddha.

"You're becoming more of a hassle after death than in life you stubborn Khajiit." Gwen growled to herself while searching for the chest that contained her most precious items. She found it easily, inside of the last room with a dark seducer glaring daggers at her. "Fuck it! You're dead you blue bitch! Give me my stuff!" Gwen yelled out and attacked the jailor with a berserker rage not unlike an Orc.

Gweneth found it not the least bit difficult attempting to slit the jailor's throat clean through with a Grummite dagger. She imagined that it was like a knife through a soft stick of butter. The dark seducer fell to the ground in a pool of her own blood, Gwen took the measly three gold off of her corpse and intended to give it to Fimmion for him to buy a sweet roll he always muttered about through the streets to people. The imperial took all of her belongings and exited the Shivering Isles version of a prison. She made her way to New Sheoth, by the time she entered Syl's court well into the night- Nerlene was plain in sight in the court room.

"Nerlene." Gwen walked up to the Mazken, their glares could have given Oblivion a frigid winter. "I have evidence pertaining to you being involved with the conspiracy to kill Syl." Gwen held up the note and her short sword. It slightly surprised Gwen to see nothing in Nerlene's eyes changed or her body posture not differ at all.

"You want Muurine. Confront her. I have no business with you." Nerlene turned around and returned to her post.

"Hm. Fine. As long as we have an understanding." Gwen dropped the crinkled letter and ceremonial short sword to the ground and left Nerlene with no other words.

Muurine. She was the one that had wanted Syl dead. At least she had something in common with the woman, but she had to complete her job. Not for Syl, but for Sheogorath. No matter what she told herself, she would listen to any order that man would give her. Crushes seemed to do that to her. She killed for Vicente... Lucien... and Martin along with traveling all across Cyrodill to make him Emperor just for him to die in a sacrifice. So basically she did the most for the man she loved for nothing, just for pure heart break. She wondered what she would do now if another tragic event happened affecting her heart. Gwen wouldn't be sure if she could handle it again. The thought worried and scared her. If her feelings grew for Sheogorath, she feared for his well being for she truly believed that her love was a curse.

Gweneth strode down the steps of the New Sheoth palace, crickets chirped and glitter flowed in the chilled night wind. The contrast from the side of Dementia and Mania soothed and frazzled her at the same time. The mixture of sensations created a warmth inside of the pit of her stomach. Guards greeted her as she walked by but she was too tired to care. Gwen longed for a long nights sleep, under the still foreign sky to her. She knew she had one last part of her mission before she could get to it though. The imperial made her way to Muurine's home within the Crucible district. The door was evidently locked with two tumblers, it didn't bother her if she only had one lock pick on her person but she gave it not even a blink as she automatically pulled out her skeleton key. The door unlocked and she slipped inside.

The stairs took her no effort to glide over, the bedroom door soundlessly opened by her hand. Gwen paused at the sight of a wandering zombie within Muurine's bed chamber but ignored her curiosity until she confronted the conspirator. Gweneth shoved Muurine's body awake roughly. The high elf gasped in fear and rose from her bed.

"What are you doing in my house? Get out before I call the guards!" Muurine's body posture became a defensive one.

"Silence. I have not come hear to steal or kill anything. I am here to let you know that you have been found out. Your plot has been foiled, Syl knows that you are the one that wants her dead." Gwen stood up and placed her hand beside her blade, preparing for an attack.

"I see. Alright. You win." Muurine laid back onto her bed and rolled over, in a defeated way.

"That's it? No fighting? No trying to kill me or Syl?" Gwen poked the high elf mage in a bit of shock.

"No." Muurine frowned and closed her eyes.

"No?" Gwen poked Muurine again.

"No." The conspirator sighed. "Please leave my home now, thank you."

"...Okay." Gwen gave her and the zombie one last glance before she left off to Syl's court.

-xxxxxxxxxxxx-

"Muurine did it." Gwen yawned as she told Syl. The countess's eyes seemed to lighten up at the knowledge.

"Perfect! I should have known!" Syl rambled off into a rant and Gweneth tuned her out until she heard the duchess's voice spike back up. "Meet me in the torture chamber in a few minutes."

"Hm? Yeah sure... whatever." Gwen rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand childishly and watched Syl strut off into her chambers. When she opened her eyes again she saw some of Syl's courtiers take Muurine who had not been struggling at all down into the torture chamber. Slightly forgetful but very curious, she followed them into the chamber. Muurine had been locked into a cage, she seemed utterly depressed and down right irritated at the same time. It unnerved her how many times she had ever seen that face in her life time, it bothered her more with the fact that she knew that she was quite young for her age.

"You are guilty Muurine, of conspirating against me Syl: Duchess of Dementia. You are to be executed immediately." Syl pushed a block on the side of a pillar within the torture chamber, powerful shock spells came out of statue's mouths that effectively killed Muurine in an instant. Gwen felt some sympathy towards Muurine, she understood the hate for the Duchess, it was just too bad that Gwen had been put on the case- if she hadn't then Muurine would have stood a chance with her plot.

"You are rewarded with the title of Courtier in the court of Dementia, and with this bow Ruin's Edge. It randomly casts a spell every time you shoot with it. May it aid you in your many ventures." Syl smiled at Gwen, she felt insulted looking at her face so she decided to look to the ground. Syl took that as a silent bow and walked away without another word. Gwen sighed in relief, she was done. It may have only taken her around a day to complete but it felt like weeks.

"I have completed Syl's task My Lord." Gweneth bowed down to Sheogorath who stood up from his throne with a smile on his face, she secretly kept her eyes lowered and frame hugged closer to the steps for she couldn't trust her mind to wander while staring at his molten golden eyes. Sheogorath grabbed her by the shoulders picked her frame up with a natural ease. The action caused her to freeze up with shock and bring an unwanted warmth to her face. The Daedric prince laughed a hearty laugh and set her back down to her feet.

"You don't have to bow to me Starshine, Only if I request it will you bow to me." Sheogorath proudly vaulted his staff in the air and balanced it on the palm of his hand when it fell back down.

"I'm sorry Lord, I will try to not impulsively bow towards you again." Gwen kept her eyes lowered, examining the intricate patterns on the Madgod's garb. The influences of Mania and Dementia were evident within the royal cloth, it kept her entranced to examine both sides of the suit to compare the differences between them.

"Look at me when I am talking to you!" Sheogorath's voice sounded dark and obviously angered. Gweneth's eyes snapped back up to his frame in an instant, she happened to fall back in shock off of the stairs and onto her back. She felt tired and terrified at the same moment, Gwen regained her breath that she lost upon impact and stood up tall. The Imperial wondered if she could possibly embarrass herself more in front of the Madgod, Gweneth regretted the thought once it entered her mind. So much for not trying to jinx herself.

"I'm sorry!" Gweneth blushed a deep crimson red and felt her spine stiffen straight up. Sheogorath grinned wide, showing off his pearl white teeth that were slightly fanged at the sides that gave him more of a dangerous look to his appearance. 'Old man' never came to Gweneth's mind when describing Sheogorath's appearance. She favored the term 'Wolf in sheep's clothing' than anything else. His body may have had white hair and a few wrinkles but it was just a disguise. She had a gut feeling that his true form was much much younger like his spirit. The body must have been a phase, Gwen reminded herself to talk to Haskill about him later.

"You're just a bundle of entertainment aren't you Starshine? Haskill I would like you to fire my dancer, my Champion is far more interesting." Sheogorath waved to Haskill as he spoke, Gwen hadn't comprehended what he had last said. All of her thoughts surrounded on the saying. Wolf. Wolf. Wolf. In sheep's clothing. His incisors gleamed bright and snapped her out of her trance.

"Wolf..." Gwen mumbled and blinked. Haskill rose his brow at her word and summoned the dancer Sheogorath wanted fired.

"Whats that? Where? I don't see a wolf. Do you?" Sheogorath smiled and pretended to look for the beast, his frame stretched forward and he set his hand over his eyes. After a few seconds he stopped his search and smacked his cane down to the ground. A timber wolf appeared in front of Gwen and him, the younger imperial backed away in shock. The wolf growled and prepared itself to lung for Gweneth's throat, just as the canine flew into the air a cane came straight down across its skull. A loud yelp pierced everyone's ears and unsheathing of swords could be heard. Gwen stared at the unconscious wolf in shock. Sheogorath laughed at the face she made and picked up the blood thirsty wolf into his arms.

"Ah There is the wolf. I was beginning to think that I would be the boy who cried wolf. Lucky me the pup got here before he made me a liar. I was starting to get nervous about that." The Daedric prince began to laugh and petted the wolf and motioned for Gwen to hold him.

"Me? No..." Gweneth stepped back from the Madgod. She knew that she could easily kill it but holding a wild animal in her arms with no indication of when it would wake made her mind wave red flags everywhere. Gweneth didn't feel like chancing her throat being ripped out while she least suspected it in front of a Daedric Lord and his subjects.

"Awe why not? He is just precious. Little Daedae wouldn't hurt a thing, unless your life would happen to be in danger that is." Sheogorath dumped the wolf into Gweneth's arms, her heart stopped for a few seconds and she felt her breathe loose her. She hadn't felt to uncertainly close to death in such a long time since Mehrunes Dagon ripped the Temple of the One dome off of the building within the Imperial City and had been about to reach inside and kill her and Martin with an angry red fist.

"I...I..." Gwen stuttered and her cerulean eyes went wide, the color left her face and her frame stayed rock solid cemented to the ground. She gazed down to a slumbering timber wolf in her arms. Gweneth contemplated dumping the animal to the ground but feared startling the canine into an unsuspecting attack on anyone including herself in the palace room. 'Daedae' woke up from its temporary slumber, Gwen stared at Sheogorath who had no expression on his face. A yawn escaped its muzzle and a whine caught her attention. Her limbs she couldn't move, a slow motion view of the timber wolf drawing near her throat played before her eyes. No matter how hard her instincts kicked in, her body wouldn't listen to her subconscious orders. Gwen heard herself whimper pathetically when a long warm wet tongue made contact with her exposed neck. No teeth she felt, just smooth slobbery canine tongue lap the whole right side of her neck up in an eager way.

"See, now what did I tell you? Daedae is just the sweetest little thing ever. He would never hurt his mamma but gladly tear through her enemies entrails like dog kibble." Sheogorath laughed and petted Daedae with a proud look on his face. The fear melted off of Gwen and her face heated up further returning her color and movement in her limbs. "You have a very... exotic whimper there Starshine. I would make sure that you don't do that in front of another person. I would have to gut their ears off of their head! I claim your whimper as mine." She had jinxed herself, she could embarrass herself further in front of the Madgod.

"...Daedae... is cute." Gwen replied shakily, her nerves hadn't been that frazzled in a long time. Is she believed that she had been tired earlier then she officially called herself a big fat liar on that regard. She felt like a skeleton guardian at the moment, still with a beyond large timber wolf in her arms.

"I knew you'd like him. So now he is yours. Take him as a token for my appreciation and a little help on your next assignment." The Madgod sat back onto his throne and relaxed by laying half way onto it like a reclined chair.

"Thank you my Lord." Gwen dropped the timber wolf to the ground, it happily stayed at her side like her horse Shadowmere would. The thought comforted her more than she ever thought it would.

"Now to the meat of your endeavor. The crux of the situation." Said Sheogorath "The reason for your being here and the likely cause of your death."

"The cause of my death? I'm sorry but that's highly unlikely." Gwen scoffed, attempting to regain the lost personality she once had inside of Cyrodill. But in front of the Madgod she just couldn't act the same with him as she did with people, he made her act very unlike herself. It reminded her of the person she used to be when finding herself throughout the Oblivion crisis.

"Lets hope so Starshine. You'll be stopping the Greymarch. Altering the course of events, breaking the cycle. A fly in the ointment, A new cause for a different effect. We're going to change things... No... things will be different this time around... You'll be my champion. You'll grow powerful. You'll grow to be me. Prince of Madness, a new Sheogorath... or you'll die trying. I love that about you." Sheogorath grinned like a child.

"To be you...?" Gwen mumbled. "How can I be a Daedric prince? Princess?"

"A fair question. You won't really. At least I don't think so. But you'll have power. My power. Try not to loose it, it's a pain to replace. But for all intents and purposes, you'll be me. A Me to fight the Him. Since I wont be around. Its simple, really. If you don't think about it." Sheogorath sat on his throne, even though his tone portrayed happiness Gwen knew that he was a business. At the moment it didn't matter the little moments they had just shared, he needed a champion and she would be there.

"I doubt the thinking part... but why me?" Gwen knelt down to sit next to Daedae.

"Because you seem a nice enough sort... and you've made it this far." Sheogorath smiled. Gwen felt a pang hit her heart. She knew she had been rediculous to imagine a relationship with the Madgod. He wouldn't have any interest in her besides business, even with his subtle comments towards her but that could have been the cause of his natural split personality.

"Where will you be?" Gwen gnawed at her teeth slightly, she didn't realize that she would be so effected by it. Then again she had always been ruled by her emotions, they usually got her to complete most tasks in her life.

"Not here. Didn't I say that? I'm never here when Jyggalag walks. Its one of the rules." Sheogorath paused for a moment and then started back up in a more relaxed tone. "I've told you too much for now. Listen to me prattle on, I can see your mortal brain straining. We'll talk more later."

"Whats next My Lord?" Gwen exhailed her breath and made no act to cover up her upset mood. She felt miserable and wanted to move head on into her mission, she decided that she wouldn't sleep tonight.

"Now... you've seen the great torch that burns brightly over New Sheoth? No? Because it doesn't. It should. But it doesn't. You'll fix that Starshine. You'll go to Cylarne and bring back the Flame of Agnon to relight the torch. Oh... and take care of my minions in Cylarne... in their eternal quest to please me, they're constantly fighting over Cylarne. It can be tiresome... but, really its divine. Divinely tiresome." Sheogorath's face crinkled up for a moment in stress but then relaxed and he had brought back his smile. "Well... that's your problem now. Off with you. I don't want to see you and Daedae again until the Great Torch is lit. I wouldn't want to have to hurt you... much." The Daedric prince gave her a sadistically naughty smirk, just as she thought that she couldn't stand the man- he drew her back in with his alluring eyes that held so many secrets.

"Yes Sir." Gwen got to her feet, his eyes may have entranced her for the moment but after she turned to leave her emotional distress came back at full force. "Why am I doing this?" She asked herself while closing the palace door shut.

-xxxxxxxxxxx-

It's been a month.

Sorry.

I just got motivated to write a few days ago.

I finally have more of a plot to this.

I hope you like my little addition.

Daedae the timber wolf.

Gwen isn't a chicken but it was pretty extreme and unexpected to her.

She is still mortal and was faced with death.

Kinda.

Sheo did a mind control thing, cough cough.

As you can see there will be more added to the story line.

It just wouldn't work if I strictly followed it...

Well kinda but it would make Gwen look pathetic and have a sad tragic ending.

Thats actually just rewriting litterally my first time playing the DLC.

I don't think you guys would want that.

Sooooo~ Leave me a review, talk to me, inspire me-

Bring me taco love.

I love you TES Gamers!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	7. Memories Haunt Me

-Before Time Runs Out-

A/N- I really need to get my fan-fiction priorities straight. I can't be making new ones T.T lol Well here is the newest installment for the Isles. Beware there be flash backs. Like the one in the beginning, this is the only way I like to develop characters- with previous events in italics. ;B

Ch.7

-Three Years Prior-

"_Martin!" Gwen called to the prince as she walked up the stone steps leading to the Cloud Ruler Temple. He had promised her an afternoon to just talk. She made a habit out of having people keep their promises and the future Emperor was no exception. Gwen smiled when her eyes came across the man she had been looking for at the top of the steps with a smile of his own gracing his features. Her heart fluttered when she noticed his smile, and she cursed herself quickly afterward. Girls like her didn't end up with an Emperor. _

"_Hello Gweneth." Martin's smile widened, hers turned into a sheepish grin. "Would you like to go right now? Jauffre said that it was okay to take a break from all of the books you retrieved for me, again I thank you."_

"_No problem Martin. I will do anything that helps you, just ask." A blush graced her ivory cheeks, Gwen hoped that the man would pass it off as the winter cold finally getting to her and not a silly little crush._

"_Thank you, lead the way." Gwen nodded at him and led them to the horses in the concrete stable next to the steps they stood on. Shadowmere whinnied in delight when seeing her master approach, Gwen smiled and petted her horse lovingly._

_Martin elegantly mounted one of the horses in the stall, its chestnut coat complimented him nicely. He gave her a nod and she proceeded to lead them out of the temple. Blade guards eyed them with worry, even though she was well on her way to becoming the champion of Cyrodill she still was only human who could die protecting their last hope. Gwen gave them an annoyed look that had them quickly diverting their eyes, yes she may be mortal but her heart was as strong as a god's. She would never let Martin die under her watch if she could do anything about it, Gwen would climb mountains, run on water, jump off cliffs, kill anyone who dared to hurt him, and sacrifice herself for Martin's well being. One would call it love and she wouldn't bother to disagree._

_Months of socializing with this man, running errands, spending the simplest of times with him like a small dinner was enough to catch her in his hooks. Martin enchanted her on every level, he shined bright in her eyes, he was pure at heart and strong in resolve, he was her everything she became aware of on one cold winter stormed night. Gwen had gotten back from bringing back the armor of Tiber Septim, her body ached from battling dead creatures and carrying the heavy cuirass from the tomb across Cyrodill. Martin's eyes lit up in an unexplained joy when she handed the armor to him, his complete reaction to her feat made her realize- she would go to the ends of the earth just to see him smile like that to her again._

_That's when she knew that she was in too deep, but at that point she couldn't care any less. She loved the man and her life would forever be on the line for him as long as he still breathed. Jauffre would tell her that she was a Blade at heart with her devotion, she would never tell him that her devotion was for different reasons. Gwen had a feeling Baurus knew, he would always give her knowing looks and small smiles when she was near Martin. Gweneth sighed and reared her horse to the right, Martin followed close behind. She gritted her teeth when she galloped past the Apple Watch farm, she didn't need a reminder of her failures while she guarded the most important man in Cyrodill._

"_How much farther Gweneth?" Martin called out behind her, she felt herself blush from the way he pronounced her name. It felt soft and smooth coming from his lips, she could listen to him talk all day. Gwen snapped herself out of her reverie, she had to stay alert for bandits and goblins._

"_A few miles, don't worry we are almost there." Gwen turned her head to the side to see him smile at her, she turned her head back with a quick snap. Gwen winced in pain and tried to relax her muscles in her neck before they gave her anymore discomfort. She really hoped that she wouldn't hurt herself any farther with the Emperor around her._

"_Good, I happened to bring some food along and wish it to not spoil before we arrive." Martin kicked the side of his horse to keep up with Gwen who suddenly went faster through the snow. Shadowmere didn't seem to mind the speed and ran on without an more excursion._

_Echo Cave was her destination, she had killed the creatures roaming around the area before taking Martin there and dragged them into the cave to rot. She did not want to make any chances of a battle present, no matter how much the Blades trained Martin he wouldn't be able to take care of himself against creatures of the woods and Daedra alike. The man did not have too much skill with him besides magic. Gwen slowed Shadowmere to a crawl once they came in the perimeter of the land, Martin followed suit and got off of his horse._

"_A quaint little spot in front of a cave? How nice." Martin chuckled and set a large bear pelt on top of the snow covered ground. A basket was laid upon it as well. Gwen got off of Shadowmere and let her roam free in the area, she knew that her horse could easily take down whatever was out there without her help._

"_Yes, its not too far away from the temple but just enough where they wouldn't be able to see us. Privacy." Gwen smiled and joined Martin on the large bear pelt. "What did you bring in the basket?"_

"_Fresh fruit, meat, cheese, bread, and chilled wine." Martin brought out a wine bottle and two glasses, he poured deep red wine into the glasses and then handed one to Gwen. She blushed at his actions, she had only offered a time to talk outside of the temple. He must have taken it like a date, but it wasn't as if she was complaining._

"_Thank you." Her smile was small and shy but it was enough to make him grin like a child._

"_You're welcome Gwenie." Martin sipped his wine and snickered at her saucer eyed face._

"_...What?" Her head slowly turned to the side, making sure her neck wouldn't be in pain again. "What did you just call me?"_

"_Gwenie. You don't like it? I find it quite suitable, considering how cute you are." Martin was smooth, she would give him that. He looked completely unaffected while speaking those words and yet she was a tomato just by listening to them. She sometimes hated being within the palm of his hands._

"_I do not care." Gweneth lied and grabbed an apple, she turned her head to the side and aggressively bit into the fruit. A loud laugh next to her erupted and at that moment she regretted inviting the Emperor for a chat._

"_You're quite adorable when flustered Gweneth." Martin held his side while he laughed, her irritation rose._

"_You always manage to ruin a peaceful setting." Gwen huffed, but his hand touched her shoulder so it turned to a sigh._

"_Well that's odd, you manage to make very setting for me peaceful." Martin had grabbed her chin back to him and pulled her into his intoxicating kiss._

_And that was when she knew, there was no way out from her heart._

"Damn Sheogorath..." Gweneth grumbled as she squeezed herself through the heavy metal door leading outside to the mess of golden saints and dark seducers scurrying around to light the flame. She had the option to side with them, and seeing the only male golden saint trying to get anything done there- she opted to side with him. After a few hours of blood shed from the two sides, Gweneth managed to settle everything- and restored the temple from the Knights of Order.

"Come," She ordered her timber wolf Daedae to walk through the Isles with her. Her body aflame with gold and green light. She felt no pain as she walked alight in the night along with her furred companion on the colored gravel. A peacefulness overtook her, one that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Her walking easily turned into a full on sprint as she went up a steep hill, the sun went down and she dreaded the coming cold along with it. She already felt a little weak now days so the temperature would do nothing to help her situation. Gwen panted hard, jumping down steep hills and screaming whenever the fall was too great. The enderance training suited her style, and sometimes the pain kept her grounded to reality. It let her know that her life was not just a dream, just a redundant uneventful boring life filled with past heartbreaks.

The walls of New Sheoth greeted her eyes, the pink glittered sky shown bright behind the castle. It was a beautiful sight to her, the waterfalls on the trail near the enterance to Cruicible made soft sounds behind her. The clear water splashed in a pattern, no creatures were in sight thankfully for her. She would hate to see Daedae run off without her permission to save her life from a possible threat.

"Welcome to Cruicible." A dark seducer greeted Gwen, she nodded to them as she walked to the Sanctum.

Its short but I couldn't stare at this document anymore.

This isn't really the ending I was going for this chapter,

but I can't keep at this chapter.

Inspire me?

I am proud of what I did write a while ago.

Hope you like this measly thing.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	8. Murdering Syl

Before Time Runs Out

Authors Note-  
I am just showing you guys that this isn't dead, I have just been caught up in life and it made me lag on posting stuff... or rather typing stuff.  
Also, Skyrim is amazing. I have a crush on Ulfric Stormcloak and thus made a new fanfiction about my new character and him. So go and read that too please.  
Don't hate me, I love you guys. Thanks for reading.

This is going to be the crappiest chapter ever, sorry.

* * *

Ch.8

"You've brought it! The holy flame of Agnon, the fire of inspiration and rapture!" Dervenin the priest for Mania smiled with excitement. "If you light the Great Torch on the Mania side of the Sacellum, you will be a hero to the people of Bliss, I assure you!"

"I'll light the Great Torch for you." Gwen didn't really care who got what, she didn't need to win the favor on any side, she just wanted to complete her task.

"I know I saw the glint of true Mania in your eyes, my child. Go now and let the holy flame inspire the people of Bliss to new heights of madness." He grinned like a child.

The Dark Elf walked up to the altar of Arden-Sul, took it's blessing and walked to the fire gate on the Mania side. Once it had opened, Gwen walked inside to release the flames she had held onto during the trip.

Sheogorath sat at one of the pews, clapping his hands with a proud smile on his face. Those golden eyes saw right through her and Gwen willed herself to walk to the Prince.

"Aren't you off to a good start! That's important. For me. Really, your work is going to save me a lot of time.." His eyes drifted off for a moment.

"Save you time, how?" Gwen leaned back against a pew behind her, paying more attention to the mad god now.

"The Greymarch is upon us, and the Ordering begins. Armies of Order sweep My Realm. Death. Destruction. Then I have to pick up the pieces... and there are always lots of pieces. I don't like it, having to rebuild My Realm every era. Sometimes I forget where things go. Like New Sheoth, I can never remember there it belongs... You'll change that. Break the cycle, you'll stop Jyggalag, and I'll have My Realm to come back to, I've never actually tried that before." Sheogorath seemed to get giddy at the idea, Gwen found that mannerism quite cute. Daedae came up and sat next to him, the prince patted the wolfs head and gave Gwen an expecting look.

"I can stop the Greymarch? You've got to be kidding." An invisible lump in her throat began to form.

"Why not? Something has to work. Once, I dug a pit and filled it with clouds. Or was it clowns? Doesn't matter. It didn't slow him down. To be honest, it wasn't the best idea. And it really began to smell. Must have been clowns. Clouds don't smell bad. They taste of butter! And tears. But this is all new! A fresh idea! Something I hadn't thought of, until I did. It's sure to work, even though it might not." Daedea took over the princes lap and begged for attention while he talked, so the madgod strokes his fur while he prattled on.

"What now?" She giggled at his clown incident, the prince's eyes seemed to shine a little more at the sound of her laugh.

"Now? You'll need the respect of my citizens. They'll need a leader, someone to look up to when I'm gone. They're the backbone of any great land. Except where the backbone is an actual backbone. Ever been to Malacath's realm...? Nasty stuff. But, back to the business at hand. You'll need to control one of the courts of Madness. Replace a current Duke. Or Duchess. Whichever. That will command respect! The people will rally around you. You'll have their love, their admiration, their complaints! Whatever. As long as it keeps them on our side." Gwen was sure from staring into the eyes of this man, they had taken a deeper amber color to them from the previous gold, and his pupils had widened.

"Wont the Dukes be displeased? I'm killing one of them..." Gwen felt herself heat up in embarrassment with her stupid question.

"No. No. No. No. Absolutely not. Well... yes. Absolutely. Bit of a shame for them. But sometimes you need to break a few eggs. Or skulls. There are rules, though, even in the Isles. Rituals and rules. You need to follow them. Speak to Arctus and Dervenin, the High Priests at the Sacellum Arden-Sul. They can explain what needs to be done. And you've always got our man Haskill to call on for help. Faithful like a good hound, that one. And he looks better in a suit." The madgod smiled bright, and set Daedae aside to stand up and look at her once over.

Gweneth felt the lump again, rise higher, she tried to swallow it to no avail. Sheogorath leaned in closer and eyed her in detail. Her blue skin had a reddish purple tint to it now, and she couldn't stop blinking her eyes. The mans hand cupped the side of her face softly, a small smirk graced his lips, leaning in close to her ear he mumbled ever so slightly. "You're going to be a great Duchess." With that he walked away with his cane to the altar, nobility and grace seeping out of him it seemed. The dark elf was beyond flustered, but she managed to greet Arctus to get on with her quest. The Madgod eyed her from behind the priest while she tried to converse with the grumpy man.

"Another sheep returns to the flock." Arctus glared at her for not putting the flame in the Dementia side. "What is it you need?"

"I need help replacing the Duchess." Gwen glared back, she didn't pick favorites, if he had walked up to her first she would have given them the flame.

"Interesting, Becoming the Duchess of Dementia requires passage through the Ritual of Accession, specific guidelines set forth by Arden-Sul himself. Seldom is the subject ever bro-.. wait a moment, did you want to hear the history of the Ritual?" Arctus asked a little excited to tell a story.

"Uhmn, no. Please just tell me what to do." Gwen tried to keep her eyes locked to his but she could see a grinning madgod behind his shoulder in the corner of her eye.

"Very well, spoken like a true daughter of the Demented. To become ruler of Dementia, the current leader's heart must be cut out and brought to the Altar of Arden-Sul in the Sacellum. Once this is done, I can pronounce the heart-bearer a Duke or Duchess. Then, all that is required is the blessing of our lord, Sheogorath." Gwen walked away from the man and right back to the madgod.

"You're back! How nice for you. Does that mean you've made a decision? Or are you lost? Suicidal? In love? Just let me know. A friendly word of warning before you choose. Once you have decided which Duke to replace, there's no turning back. One choice. No more. No less. Try not to do something stupid." Sheogorath gave her a warning, his eyes narrowed in a threatening way and then he began to smile like a child again. "So, which is it? What will it be? Mania? Dementia? The suspense is killing me. Or you. If I have to keep waiting.."

"I choose Syl, Duchess of Dementia." Gwen tried to keep eye contact with him, but she often diverted her eyes. For some reason this prince took all the confidence she had from before.

"A dangerous choice. I like it! She's gotten to be a bit much, anyway. Thinks everyone is out to get her. Which they are, in this case. So be it. We will talk again when your task is complete my dear." A grin was all she needed from him to give her the drive to leave the Sacellum. The dark elf nearly sprinted out of there, she was so flustered.

* * *

Gweneth strode over the the Duchess's court, looking for Anya Herrick and Kithlan to talk to. Syl wasn't around at the moment, probably hiding in her quarters. The dark elf looked over the Dark Seducers, they almost felt like cousins to her.

"Ahhh, good to see you again." Anya smiled in her seat next to the empty throne.

"Where is Syl?" Gwen looked over to Kithlan, knowing he knew something.

"She is staying well out of sight. No need to take unnecessary risks. I maintain a close watch on her. She fears that Sheogorath no longer favors her presence and wants her replaced." She gave Gwen a glare and looked away.

"Hey Anya, here, take some money. That will make you a little more friendly right?" She threw a coinpurse of gold onto her lap, it weighed a lot and earned a gasp from the woman. "Now, help me find her wont you friend?"

"Perhaps I've misjudged you. Alright. I'll help. Just remember me when you take over her position. What can I do to help you?" She grinned a little at her new found sack of gold.

"I need to get close to her." She eyed Kithlan, he knew to keep quiet and help.

"Well the best I can offer is help with the guards. I can distract at least two of them and get them to leave her wing of the palace. That should help you to get in there a bit easier." Anya went on her way to make sure what she said was true.

"Kithlan, I need you to help me as well. I am going to replace her." Gwen handed him some gold as well.

"Yes, I see you may have what it takes to replace Syl." He pocketed the money.

"Can you get me close to her?" Gwen leaned on one leg and stared at him.

"Hmm. That may be difficult. Syl has been hidden from public sight lately. However, I can give you something that may help. Take this key. It should unlock any door in her wing of the palace. You still need to be wary of her Seducer guards, but it should help." He remained in his seat and watched the Dark Elf get to work.

Anya ran through the garden, darting to the door, the guards followed her, distracting them from Gweneth. The elf snuck past them quickly and slid behind the wooden door quietly as possible. Her chambers were dark just like the court room and a figure lay on her bed, Gwen crawled up next to the bed to notice that it wasn't Syl laying there, but a fake already dead wrapped in her clothing. Just as Gwen turned to glare at an Anya standing by the door, Kithlan ran to her.

"Don't be fooled, the ritual isn't over. The body on the bed isn't Syl, but merely an impersonator. The real Syl uses many such decoys to throw would-be killers off her trail. Syl has made her escape through the hidden tunnel in the gardens outside her quarters! She must not get away! Be wary, I fear that her escape may be a ruse to lure you into an ambush." Kithlan nodded to her before he walked away with Anya, hoping Gwen would succeed or it would be their heads.

"Mhm because I haven't done this before.." Gwen rolled her eyes and ran for the exit and the secret entrance right beside it.

Gwen sprinted down many steps in a dungeon-like area. What looked like a difficult maze proved to be nothing to her. Magic spells her flung at her from statues but it didn't slow her down, a few more staircases and a room of seducers began to attack.

Arrows stuck to her side, and a sword grazed her skin. Gwen took out her blades sword and deflected a mace, she used her other hand to grab her dagger and gut the seducer before her. A fire ball spell took care of the archers, igniting them in flames. Gwen took a little time to pull the arrows out of her armor and areas where uncovered. Blood seeped out of her leather armor. Continuing onto the next room, it was empty until the walls came down to reveal more Seducers. Fire covered them both as Gwen quickly threw the spell at them, tired of seeing the blue women. More cuts were decorated onto her body, as well as blood. It was beginning to darken the already purplish leather to a black.

Running down staircases depleted her energy, but the elf mused it was from the blood loss more than anything. Another room filled with seducers, only two this time. The room looked thrashed, having the furniture thrown everywhere to create a barricade and confuse her to where she should go next. An arrow jutted out of her shoulder from a distraction, it burned where the tip connected, searing the flesh off it felt like ever so slowly. Poison she figured was the cause, her body felt heavier. With a scream and a lunge, she cut the archer in half and slit the others neck with a tackle.

The room gave little to no indication where the next entrance lay, Gwen felt around and laid her hands across almost everything. Luckily she didn't have to roam for long as she pushed on a block, giving the door away as it opened. The elf gulped down a healing potion and climbed through the wall. The structure became too dark for her so she ignited her night eye spell and ran through the dark, coming up on another block that opened a door, Gwen ran quickly through that as well. Another metal door stood in her way, opening it was a large walkway, with more seducers guarding it. Showing of her Dunmer abilities, Gweneth crawled in the corners out of sight until she was close enough to slit the women's necks. They fell silently, not alerting the others, she kept crawling until she took a turn right, no seducers to be seen. Running took more out of her now than earlier, sadly Gwen rarely kept cure disease potions on her so she had to bear the poison and drink another vile of health until the deed was done.

Finally she saw the last of the Seducers on top of the staircase, one at the door and two next to Syl. She gave Gwen a knowing sneer and came at the woman with her warhammer. Four against one didn't discourage the elf, she threw out an ice spell with her left and swung her blades sword with her right, easily the seducers fell but Syl stayed alive like a madwoman, screaming profanities and paranoid ramblings all the while trying to kill her. Gwen swung her foot underneath Syl and froze her arms to the concrete.

"You bitch." Syl spat in her face as she took a moment to breathe.

"Go fuck yourself you stuck up cunt." With that she brought her sword down on Syl, cutting deep into her neck but not far enough to make it clean to the stone. Her face was a look of shock, frozen in time as with the rest of her corpse. She looted her body and took her weapon, finally cutting open her chest cavity for her heart. If there wasn't enough blood dowsed on her form, more was added, making it look like she had swam in blood. The heart went into a piece of cloth into her back back, and she went on her way back to the Sacellum.

* * *

Done.  
Hope that was enough to keep you interested.

Don't forget to check out "Catching A Cloak In A Storm"  
Thank you guys for reading,

Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


	9. Dread

Before Time Runs Out.

* * *

Ooof, I made a mistake on Gwen's race. I'm sorry, to clarify: She is Imperial in this story but when I first played the Isles, Gwen was and always was Dunmer, but for some reason it felt better to change her race for this, it just fit better. I have had game saves with Imperial girls that looked like my Dunmer named Gweneth and along the way in writing this I forgot. So, she was originally Dunmer, but in this version she is Imperial. To imagine the original all you have to do is give her red eyes and light sky blue skin, everything else is the same. Sorry about that, I wont try to flub up again.

* * *

Gwen walked up the steps to the Sacellum. She felt more than dirty with blood caked onto all over her body, if she didn't jump into a lake or something soon she would begin to form a rash in the most awkward of places. She placed the heart in the bowl on the altar and watched the heart burn and glow, Arctus ran to her excitedly and began babbling about the ritual being completed. She didn't hear much of it for she felt someone else's presence in the room besides the two men. As she turned, Gwen locked eyes onto the mad god. He stared right into her and she couldn't help but repress a shiver erupting from her core.

"I now declare you to be Duchess of Dementia of the Shivering Isles. May your wrath and anger be your guide." He then bowed and turned to his post.

Sheogorath walked down the hall with a kind of swagger only he had, the way his cane gracefully swayed back and forth was nearly hypnotizing. The Imperial had to hold herself together from blushing in excitement to see this man again, it felt like now days she just lived to please him. Anything, she would do.

"You've done it, the ritual is complete, and you survived! Who'd have thought? Now on to other..." The sound of loud banging on the Sacellum doors and stomping up the stairs cut him short, making him turn to see who would be rude enough to disturb the prince of madness.

"Wait! I must speak! Halt! Cease! Desist!" Thadon ran up the stairs, two Golden Saints behind him.

"Thadon, how dare you interrupt me. Only I interrupt me, just like then." He wagged his cane around absent mindedly. "I'm speaking with someone. We'll talk later. Or not. When is later exactly? Not now, I'm sure of that. Guards I think Thadon has forgotten how to use the door, Kindly show him out before I forget myself."

"Syl... My Syl is dead? This cant be right. Is this right? What have you done? Have you done this?" Thadon looked as if he were about to lung at Gwen, but Sheogorath obtained a look in his eye that meant no kinds of funny business.

"Hold your tongue little duke." He growled menacingly. "Or I'll tear it from your mouth."

"But... this stranger? Someone new? From somewhere else? Not here. I'm sure of that. I don't understand, or I cant." He eyed her again, searching for something within her.

"Calm yourself Thadon, you're making my teeth itch. You still hold your office, I suggest you see to your duties."

"Rediculous. You can't do this! Although.. you're omnipotent. Or just tall, it's one of the two, I'm sure. And a fool!"

"Fool? Visionary! Thadon change is in the air! Breathe it deep! Bathe in it's scent. Bottle it up, save some for later."

"Order approaches! It's taken the Fringe already! With Order clothes and Order hats, and you speak of 'change'?"

"Change will preserve us! It is the lifeblood of the Isles. It will move mountains, it will mount movements!"

"No. No. Certainly not. This isn't good. I'm sure it's bad. I can't do this anymore. No more."

"Then go, Thadon. Have your Greenmote. Take a bath. But leave. Before I decorate my throne with your insides."

"Yes. That's it. I'll go. Away. Far away. Working for them is like working for us, but without all the dying." Thadon moved to leave but the Dark Seducers unsheathed their swords and almost gunned for him, Sheogorath held his hand up to stop them.

"No! Let him go."

"Enough, I go to Jyggalag. I give myself to him, as a priest of Order! This isn't done madgod. I think it's just started." Thadon walked away and out of the Sacellum with his Golden Saints trailing behind. Sheogorath just turned to Gweneth, he didn't have his usual happy look on his face.

"Wondering why I let him go aren't you? I can see it in your face, mostly in the eyes. I may take those from you when this is all done... those beautiful eyes. This has never happened before. The ruler of Mania turning traitor? Unprecedented! But different is good, a new act in this play. Maybe we're onto something here. We'll see how it plays out. It can't be worse than whats happened before."

"If you say so..." Gwen was beginning to have this dreading feeling in her gut, like something was about to happen but she couldn't put her finger on it, and better yet.. that she had absolutely no power over what was going to happen. She didn't enjoy things being out of her hands.

"I do, I did, and I wont say it again. But, that's enough about that. You're the ruler of Dementia! Just look at you, you're positively beaming! You now have the power to summon Dark Seducers, they've always served the Duke of Dementia. I think they have a thing for pain." He winked at her, and slipped a ring on her finger swiftly. Their skin coming in contact felt like an electric spark, and she knew he felt it too for his smile vanished for a moment and took on a more serious face. "Here is the ring of Lordship, a symbol of your new station. Symbols are important. They carry weight in this Realm, and others. You would be well served to remember that."

"And the Fringe?" She tried to keep her voice unwavering, trying to give away as least as possible but she knew he knew her heart was racing faster than a running rabbit's.

"He was right about that. I can feel it, in my bones, the little ones... The Greymarch has swept the Fringe. Order gathers its forces there as we speak. And I hate when people gather forces in my Fringe. I need you to put an end to that, stop them. My armies should already be there, but I want you to see what you can do to help. If they continue to marshal their forces there we wont be able to contain them. Make sure they cant."

"Alright, I'll head out right now." Their eyes continued to stay locked, but he broke the contact first, looking away, his frown deepening. It really wasn't her place to ask but she couldn't shake this feeling she had. Something was wrong. "Are you okay my lord?"

"Yes...never better, hurry along to the Fringe. They need you, I need you there... but before you go." The prince stepped forward to her, leaning in close, lowering his head down to the side of her face near her ear. "Don't.. don't die on me Gweneth." He placed a delicate kiss on her cheek, lingering for only a moment before pulling away. She missed the body heat radiating off of him already, and tried to regain her breathe that was kicked out of her lungs.

"A-Aye." Her face reddened to the color of a tomato, she bounded down the steps not looking back at the Prince who had a more than worried look on his face, not looking anywhere near his normal self. The Sacellum door shut behind her, and the dread in her gut grew immediately.

* * *

Passwall looked beyond bleak, it was obviously marked by Order, everything was gray and spikes grew everywhere she walked. Death filled the air, and Gweneth was faintly reminded of the plains of Oblivion.. only it was colder and quieter. It brought chills down her spine to see the difference in the town, it was night and day. Going down the steps as fast as she could, the imperial found a group of Dark Seducers fighting knights of Order, and they were loosing. Their captain yelled at them to fall back into the town center. Taking no heed to her own safety, Gwen instinctively ran for the knights with everything she had, cutting them down in one hits eventually killing them all temporarily. The captain thanked her, and asked her for advice for she was the new duchess and pulled rank over her. Gwen didn't care at the moment, she wanted to get inside that structure and slaughter them all.

"You get to make the decisions right now, just get me inside that building and I'll stop this." She sheathed her sword.

"Thank you, I am honored by your trust, I wont fail you. Mazken! Form together and brace yourselves for another wave! Your grace, help us defeat this wave and we will lead you to their base."

"Alright lets go." Gwen didn't wait for the wave, she ran to them as they were heading to the town center. Half of them were cut down quickly and the rest were handled by the Dark Seducers. They lead her to where the spire would be, inside the giant structure. Gwen cut down the knight near her on foot and ran for the entrance ahead not caring what happened to the army. She knew even though they were weak, they could handle themselves for a little longer while she shut the spire down.

Xeddefen was dark and bleak, freezing inside, Gwen could hardly see. While running through the halls, she heard the familiar sound of spikes rising above the ground. It didn't take her long before she reached the spire, Sheldon was hiding around and ran to her as he saw her round a corner to get to the spire.

"You... I remember you! What are you doing down here? How did you get past the knights?"

"I killed them, simple."

"Simple? You're crazy and just have been lucky you weren't killed yet!"

"I need to stop the spire, do you want to help me or do you need a way out?"

"I'm not going near any of those crazy knights, you're on your own!"

"Alright then." Gwen turned and left the Redguard to his own devices, running for the knights.

Priests and knights attacked her from every angle but it didn't mind her, she had seen how they had worked before. Cutting down the knights was easy, but the priest electrifying her slowed her down significantly. Throwing hearts into the obelisk took time and the pain racked throughout her body. But when the obelisk came crashing down she gunned for the now vulnerable priest, killing him easier than the knights.

"Hey, come on!" Sheldon ran down the steps with his torch, "I need you to protect me! Get us out of here!" The building came crashing down in pieces all over and Gwen had to sprint over to Sheldon who already began to run away as boulders and parts of the ceiling crumbled.

Running through the building became tough, sure everyone was dead but when everything around you started to shake and fall uncontrollably, it distorted your vision so bad where you easily ran into walls and pushed you into collisions of other pieces of concrete. They ran through a passage just in time, well Gwen was just in time but it locked Sheldon where he was, forcing him to find another way out. He shouted to her something about them regrouping later but Gwen didn't pay attention and just kept running, focusing on staying alive. The damage was almost too much, she constantly had a vile of restore health in her hand as she hit more unwanted things.

"Well would you look at this, seems I found the easy road! How's it going over there?" Sheldon laughed from a gate nearby watching as Gwen dodged more falling debris that risked her life. She shot him and glare and watched him run away merrily where no debris fell. She continued on her own path, eventually making it out safely.

She reached the town center to see civilians of Passwall help fighting the knights of Order with the male Dark Seducers. Their captain brightened with joy to see Gwen join the fight and finish the last of the knights, they finally won the battle for the moment.

"Your grace.. you're alive! You're truly the greatest warrior ever hold the seat of Dementia. I was certain no one could survive the spires collaspe, but there you are! By the staff you are more than worthy to lead us."

"Thank you. I must return to the prince and report the news. I trust you with cleaning up the town with the rest of the seducers?"

"Yes your grace, go now." She smiled and lead on her forces while Gwen ran back to New Sheoth.

* * *

"News of your success in the fringe precede you, to further cement the victory I have an important task for you to preform. You will seek the assistance of Relmyna Verenim to rebuild the gatekeeper. You remember the creature you killed to get in here. With the gatekeeper restored and Xedilian in operation we wont have to worry about anything getting in. Things already here are another matter. You'll need to speak with Relmyna Verenim. She'll help you with your task. Strange woman. Has some unusual tastes. With that done, the Fringe should be secure, for now. I can feel things start to get a little hairy, and not like the good way like your head." He put a hand through her ebony locks and mumbled "Send Relmyna my love, that'll get her going."

He stood there for a while, running his fingers through her hair, no one seemed to be looking at them inside of the throne room, even Haskill. Gwen took that opportunity to get closer to him, test her limits with the madgod. He didn't seem to mind. Looking up from her embrace, she watched golden eyes watch her own sapphire ones. A smirk graced his lips before he wrapped his arms around her waist, his teeth began to poke out underneath his tight mouth. She was memorized enchanted. She wanted so badly just to kiss him, press herself against him, just let everything go and submit her emotions to him. But now wasn't the time for such feelings, there was a war going on. She was merely a pawn in this game, a mortal, a woman, and him a god, daedric prince, something far bigger than she would ever be, he'd live longer than anyone, this was a blink in time for him, she was so insignificant to him it hurt. She didn't even have a chance.

Gweneth wrote off that kiss on her cheek to just be one of his quirks, him being a madgod and all. He must have had just a mood swing in that moment, after all he was acting a little bit loonier when speaking to Thadon.

"Starshine.." Sheogorath smiled a warm smile, looking down at her "Don't dawdle. Be a good little girl and help your prince."

"I just.. missed you is all, I can never take a break.. I need time to heal.. please." Gwen dug her head into his robes, hoping she could convince him, truth was she was running on empty and she could barely stand. It had been a long while since she was worked that hard, and that was when Martin had her as his errand girl. She needed a break.

"I suppose a day or two wouldn't hurt." Sheogorath looked up to the ceiling and kept stroking her hair, lulling her into a sleepy state. She heard Daedae somewhere yawning on the ground near them, but payed no mind. She felt like she had been turning into pudding for the last few minutes of her life and loved it.

"Ngggnnmmrrnng." She mumbled, unable to form words now, too tired, too relaxed to enunciate. "Sheo-oooo." She sighed, she felt like she was picked up and walked somewhere. Hearing footsteps, and the pattering of clawed paws in a hallway. Eventually the noises stopped and one by one her body felt lighter, her armor and weapons were removed from her body and then plopped onto a giant lush bed. A body laid beside her, as she drifted off into sleep.

_"What am I going to do with you little one?"_

* * *

_"Martin!" Gwen cried out, tears muddied her vision. The sky was red, they had been running for the Temple District, Mehrunes had been tailing them, Daedra attacking them. She fought with all her might to protect the man she loved, but it wasn't enough. All those months of cave dwelling, dungeon diving, killing the dead, the undead, the living, anything and everything in the name of this man for it to end like this._

_"Martin!" She cried out again, her voice becoming hoarse. She wasn't sure which hurt worse, her inability to protect or the fact that he just decided that sacrificing himself was the only way. Deciding without her, so quickly, not considering the lasting consequences, who he'd be hurting permanently after this._

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gweneth screamed at the top of her lungs, everything she had left with that shout, all of the pain echoed in the remainder of that building. Her voice cut out after it, lost for a long time. She felt numb but, deep inside impossibly there was still pain furrowing deeper, gnawing at her, aching, festering, infecting, bleeding into the rest of her body to eventually kill her. She wanted to die. Her love was dead, what was the point in living now? She has fallen for a third time, she really thought this would have worked out. They had the GODS on their side._

_What did she do wrong? What did she miss? Why did this happen again? Every man she ever loved died. She was cursed, the nine didn't want her to receive love. It wasn't in the cards for her. Maybe.. maybe if she were strong enough, she could have prevented it all. This was all punishment for being weak, she wasn't worthy. Yes, that was it. Gweneth was pathetic, not being able to protect. The men she loved were strong, but she brought them down.. down to their demise._

_There was no point in going on... Gwen looked up from the ground she cried on to see the Akatosh statue fight the Mehrunes statue, fresh tears filled her eyes again and Gweneth cried for the second time that day. People and soldiers alike walked into the temple, finding her on the ground, they asked questions, many questions. All of them concerning Martin, but she couldn't speak, her voice failed her. They took her away, putting her in a room within the palace until she seemed in health. The Imperials questioned her as her voice came back to her, she would blabber as much as she could out before breaking down into unintelligible sobs again. Everyone knew her love for the prince, and towards the end of their journey he openly returned her feelings. He would talk to her about how he would make her his queen, and she would bear many sons for him and live to a ripe old age with him within the castle. He told her they would win, they were strong enough, and with her everything would be alright._

_He broke her heart twice before he died, and she decided to keep loving him regardless._

_The first time was during the trip from Bruma to the capital, during one night as they set up camp he took her aside._

_"Gwen, I.. I'm not sure how to put this. We.. we can't be together, it's not going to work out. I don't want you to care for me as we battle down there. Just focus on the orders given to you.. and do them."_

_"What? Why? Why are you doing this? Why now? Did I do something wrong? Martin please no." Gweneth began to shake, and Martin embraced her, if it were any other situation she would have pushed him away, yelled, demanded answers and if not given them, storm off until the next day. But this wasn't a time for things like that so she just held onto him for what he was worth to her and let him console her with kisses and generic reassuring words. He didn't ever explain to her why, but she knew now why. He knew he was going to sacrifice himself, that their life he had dreamed up for them was never going to pan out. In trying to separate them, he thought it would be easier for her to move on instead of letting her believe he still loved her, making her never move on and mourn for the rest of her life. She knew as she cried on the marble floor of the temple, and cried harder for it. He must have been ripped to shreds that night, breaking his loves heart and knowing his death awaited the next day._

_Eventually they made her leave the palace, packed her things and carried her outside, a soldier took her to one of her houses and wished her luck. She didn't leave the house for months, her friends from the thieves guild would come over to her house and care for her while she didn't leave her bed. They would force her to eat and drink, and console her as she cried... most of the time she screamed, screamed into her friends shoulders or into her pillow at night. Asking why, Martin, Vicente, and Lucien, asking them all why._

_Almost a year later she came out of her house, Shadowmere smothered her in affection on sight. She had been cared for by the other thieves and tethered outside of her shack. Gweneth put on her armor and mounted Shadowmere, and rode anywhere her steed would take her, helping out random people, plundering caves just because, and closing Oblivion gates she came across. News came about that there was a door, a strange door opened in the bay. Just was Gweneth started to feel okay for once in a long time, she plunged into the new adventure._

_Vicente, Lucien, Martin, and Sheogorath appeared before her. They all looked at her lovingly, but one by one they melted away leaving only Sheogorath. But he too began to melt, fade into the black abyss. Gwen reached for him but she touched air._

_"No!" She cried out, repeating it over and over, running all over to find him but he was gone. His clothes neatly folded on top of his throne, Haskill standing beside it with a grim look on his face. "Please Haskill no. Where is he?"_

_"Where is who my lord?" Haskill looked up and bowed to her._

_"...What? I'm not- what are you talking about?" She stepped back up the stairs, dreading his upcoming answer._

_"I am not sure who you are referring to She-" Gweneth slammed the palace doors shut before she could hear him._

* * *

Hey there, hope you enjoyed it. Leave me a review please, lets me know you care and still want this in existence.

Thanks for the read.

Love you guys, - LadyMarrowind. ;3


	10. My Prince In Twisted Armor

Before Time Runs Out

A/N- Wow I wasn't expecting so many reviews, let alone so quickly. I love it! Thank you!

I just wanna say for future chapters, I might skim over things I wouldn't have in the past. Why? Because it's mind numbingly boring to write step by step things you do during quests. It's not exactly action-ey but I feel obligated to write it for the sake of the story. So, less walkthrough, more romantic angst. Everyone knows we are nearing the end anyways, DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN. Well, kinda. Anyways, enjoy this and if you would like to get a hold of me quicker I have a page on facebook called "Yam", look it up and give it a like, it has over 8 thousand likes now. The link is on my profile.

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Gweneth hated having nightmares every time she slept, so she didn't do it often. Unfortunately whenever she reached her limit without rest, her night terrors only worsened as if it were punishment for neglecting herself. There seemed to be no escape from them, at least one of her lost loves had to visit her dreams and on a bad night all three of them. She was terrified to see Sheogorath join them in her mind, it didn't bode well with her. She hoped this was just her mind going loony and not an omen. She hoped, she plead, begged for it to be fake.

A tongue slobbered on the side of her face, coating it with warm saliva in the cold morning air. Gwen shivered and slowly opened her eyes to look at unmatched eyes, one blue and the other gold. Daedae wagged his tail happily to see his master awake and whined in excitement on the bed. She couldn't help but make a small smile to the canine and wrangle him in for a hug. To think this wolf a week ago was about to tear her throat out as she held him in her arms was a trip. The madgod easily tamed him, but would his magic ever break? Would Daedae go feral on her? Gwen repressed that thought, she lived on the edge of death everyday and didn't need another thing to remind her it could all be taken away from her.

She chose to selfishly live in the name of Vicente, he wanted her to continue on so she would. Guarding herself from her own pup would only hurt his feelings and in turn her own, she had quickly grown attached to him... she tended to latch on quick to anything now did she? It was one of her flaws she guessed, easy to fall prey to danger. The imperial sat up in the plush bed to notice an arm was snaked around her waist... a tan arm. Who's bed was she in? Gweneth couldn't recall the last moments of her consciousness. Where was she? Obviously nowhere dangerous for Daedae was as happy as a clam and nearby.

Her weapons? Where? Over in the corner of the expensive looking room... the more she looked around, she stared in awe. High gold ceilings engraved with beautiful angelic symbols, angels, clouds, heavenly intricate patterns. By the nine it was beautiful. As she lowered her gaze the patterns became more wicked, menacing but still beautiful in its own right, the color went from gold to a steeled green, emerald. The floor had patterns too she realized, but they were dark like charcoal and only could be seen if her nose were pressed up against the ground. Her mortal eyes were not strong enough, she already knew she couldn't view the true beauty of this room unless she had some kind of super vision. It upset her a little, to know she wasn't good enough to see, it disappointed her.

The bedroom was vast, it had rooms within rooms, surely a bed chamber for a king. Ornate furniture lined the walls, couches, chairs, giant desks and dressars were on either side of her, a trunk lay at the foot of the bed and end tables hugged her sides. Light peaked out between golden tipped curtains, the window was tall and looked as if it led to a balcony. Gweneth could see the Isles skies from the crack of light behind the curtains, she felt some comfort in knowing she was in the realm still. The arm that wrapped around her waist tightened it's grip and pulled her down from her sitting position in the bed, finally she turned her head to find the owner of the surprisingly strong arm. It was none other than her madgod, smiling that toothy grin, showing off his gleaming teeth. A proud look on his aged face, making him look like he was in the prime of his youth again. Gwen blushed maddeningly red and hid her face underneath her hands.

"Awh Starshine, now you're bashful? You weren't so shy last night." His voice was deeper than usual, probably from their slumber. It still had such an effect on her though, it felt like it reverberated inside of her.

"Wh-what?" She barely managed to get out, she urged herself backwards, making distance between them only felt safe. The madgod only laughed at her antics and crawled forward to her, the sheets leaving his body to reveal he only had loose fitting silk pants on. Just as she guessed, he was built from head to toe. That didn't ease her mind, if anything it put more less than clean thoughts in her head. Why was she in the same bed as him, and what was he planning to do to her?

"Oh you don't remember? Now I'm hurt... well not really. But you were quite adorable. Mumbling things, cuddling up to me, crying in the night- wait no. That wasn't adorable. Scratch that." He now carried a thoughtful look before staring up back at her again.

"We didn't.. you know.. have sex?" Gwen's blush exploded at her question, but the madgod only stared back at her. "My lord?"

"Oh? No no no. Not when you don't even know whats going on." He leaned back slightly. "Rape is Molag Bal's thing. I enjoy a conscious woman quivering underneath me instead of the crying.. the screaming, oh the screaming is so unpleasant."

"Alright, uhm. Thank you for letting me stay in your room, I best be going now. There's a realm to save." Gwen couldn't hold her embarrassment any longer as she slipped out of the sheets and went to the corner of the room where her possessions lay.

"Ah lass, you just complained about how you were so tired, that ye needed a break." Arms enclosed her to the wall, pinning her there,, she felt the heat of his breathe on her neck and nearly had her legs give out on her. "So I thought I could take you somewhere, don't run away Starshine."

"O-okay." She mumbled, her back pressed up against his chest. Was she dreaming? Was she dead and this was some form of heaven? Is Sheogorath madder than usual? She couldn't tell but whatever was happening was driving her a little insane. The realm may be falling to pieces but the madgod openly flirting with a mortal was absurd.

"Come, get dressed, there are clothes for you on the table." The prince left her side and exited the room.

Or was it all a game, to amuse him, entertain him? Keeping him busy when Order wasn't knocking on his door. He did seem to be changing more by the day, he seemed less.. mad. He looked more cryptic and level headed, his speech less sporadic and pointless. Gwen wondered why, was the stress of the Greymarch too much? Did he need an escape from all this? She knew she did.

The imperial grabbed the clothes selected for her, they were a deep red color with intricate gold patterns on them, a very expensive looking gown. It was surprisingly easy to put on, slipped on so perfectly she could have swore Sheogorath had it made for her. Small heeled shoes were set beside the dress, and she easily put them on. Stepping lightly out of the room, she found the prince leaning on the wall next to the door.

"Where are we going?" There was some kind of look in his golden eyes she couldn't figure out, something was different about him.

"Somewhere special." Sheogorath walked up to her, took her hand and placed a kiss on it, a flash of light enveloped them and they were gone.

* * *

From what she gathered, they were just outside the area of Pinnacle Rock, the sea was beside them and lush green trees behind them. The madgod had made a makeshift picnic on a little island off the mainland. A red tapestry was laid out on the grass with a basket of food next to it. They sat together, watching the creatures of the Isles wander about, it was a nice sunny morning and it felt great to be outside.

"So tell me about yourself." Sheogorath picked up a slice of cheese and began to thoroughly inspect it before eating. Gwen didn't feel comfortable explaining herself but she went along with it anyways.

"Well I was born and raised in a little town outside of Chorrol, it was a nice town before it got burned to the ground. Most of the villagers went insane and I left shortly after that, I wandered across the land doing odd jobs until I became of age. When I turned thirteen I joined the Arena and made my first claim to fame there. Eventually I found a new family to associate myself with, and other guilds welcomed me in for help. I served the empire during the Oblivion crisis and I ventured into your realm and now serve you. It's pretty boring and sad, not really fun to talk about." She smiled a small smiled and bit into the apple before her.

"It sounds quite exciting to me. Your true life began when utter madness corrupted your life!" He turned to look at her, his face shined approvingly. "A little insanity always makes life better."

"How would it make life better? I understand it to be more interesting but better? Wouldn't it just ruin stability and cause nothing to get done?"

"Hmm yes I can see how you would think that. But you see I have a story for you. There once was a man named King Lyandir...

Lyandir was known to be an exceedingly rational man. He lived in a palace that was a small, simple structure, unadorned with art and ugly to look upon. "I do not need more than this," he would say. "Why spend my gold on such luxuries when I can spend it on my armies or on great public works?"

His kingdom prospered under his sensible rule. However, the people did not always share the king's sense of practicality. They would build houses that were beautiful to look upon, although not necessarily very practical. They devoted time and energy to works of art. They would celebrate events with lavish festivals. In general, they were quite happy.

King Lyandir was disappointed that more of them did not follow his example and lead frugal, sensible lives. He brooded on this for many years. Finally, he decided that his subjects simply didn't understand how much more they could accomplish if they didn't waste time on those frivolous activities. Perhaps, he reasoned, they just needed more examples.

The king decreed that all new buildings must be simple, unadorned, and no larger than was necessary for their function. The people were not happy about this, but they liked their king and respected the new law. In a few short years, there were more plain buildings than ornate ones. The citizens used the money saved to make and buy even more lavish art and hold even more excessive celebrations.

Once again, King Lyandir decided to provide them a strict example of how beneficial it would be to use their time and resources for more practical purposes. He banned all works of art in the city. The people were quite put out by this, but they knew that their king was doing what he thought was best for them. However, human nature is not so easily denied. In a few more years the city was filled with plain, simple buildings, and devoid of any sort of art. However, the people now had even more money and time to devote to their parties and festivals.

With a heavy heart, King Lyandir decided that his people were to be treated like children. And like all children, they needed rules and discipline laid down by great figures of authority to make them understand what was truly important in life. He decreed that there should be no revelry in the city. Singing, dancing, and music were all banned. Even food and drink were limited to water and simple foodstuffs.

The people had had enough. Revolt was out of the question, since King Lyandir had a very well trained and equipped army. They visited the shrines and temples in droves, praying to all the gods, and even to some of the Daedric Princes, that King Lyandir would revoke these new, oppressive laws.

I heard their pleas and decided to visit King Lyandir. I appeared to the king in his dreams as a field of flowers, each with arms instead of petals and the face of the Madgod in the center. "I am Lord of the Creative and Lord of the Deranged. Since you have no use for my gifts of creativity, I have decided to bless you with an abundance of my other gift."

From that day forward, every child born in the city was born into madness. Since infants do not reveal illnesses of the mind, it was several years before this was realized. The king's own son was among the victims, suffering from seizures and delusions. Yet, King Lyandir refused to change his ways.

When his son, Glint, was 12 years old, he stabbed his father while Lyandir was sleeping. With his dying breath, King Lyandir asked, "Why?" His son replied, "It is the most practical thing I could do."

The new, young king ordered all the palace servants slaughtered. He ordered a grand festival to celebrate his new reign and the repeal of Lyandir's laws. He served the crowds a stew made from the carcasses of the palace servants. He ordered the east facing walls of every building painted red, and the west facing walls painted in stripes. He decreed that all citizens wear ornate masks on the backs of their heads. He then burned down the palace and began construction of a new one.

In the new palace, the young king ordered his personal chambers to not have any doors; for fear that small woodland creatures would attack him. He ordered that it have no windows for fear that the sun and moon were jealous of him and plotting his death.

And thus ended the line of King Lyandir. The people of the city returned to their grand works of art and raucous celebrations. They talked and acted as if they still had a living king, and even kept up the palace, using it to house and care for their mad children. I was mightily pleased with this outcome. From that day forward the city was blessed with more than the normal number of gifted artists and deranged citizens."

"Madness endows greatness onto others in which sanity could never do. Sanity oppresses the creativity required to achieve great things. Becoming deranged allows you to see." Gwen glanced at the prince who grinned ear to ear.

"Aye, you see my subjects, are they not more enlightened than the subjects of Cyrodill? They are more productive, stronger, smarter than them. My little minions are beautiful creatures. Many people like yourself leave Tamriel for my realm all the time, they do not want to be mentally oppressed anymore. I free their minds, it's quite beautiful really." He looked decades younger, being so happy. Gwen could have sworn seeing shades of brown in his gray hair.

"Do you use magic to keep your appearance that way?" She reached up and petted the side of his hair, noticing the more he smiled, the more slight traces of brown she saw.

"I can take any form I choose, I like this one the best." He leaned into her hand like a cat, still playing with his slice of cheese.

"What is your true form?" Gwen looked him in his golden eyes, they flashed for a moment and his smile fell.

"It's best you don't know." He spoke low.

"But-"

"No." The look he gave her sent chills down her spine and silenced her quickly.

They sat there in silence, usually the mad god would change his tune and ramble on about something else but he sat in silence there with her, his face looking far from happy. Gweneth wasn't sure what she did wrong but kept on beating herself up for it. The few times he spends with her that weren't about his realm, she fucks it up. Go figure. Just her luck.

"I'm sorry.." She felt herself whispering, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't know where they were coming from but didn't care at the moment.

"Ssssshh little one. It's quite alright." He said in a hushed tone, still looking away from her.

Silence reigned true again, but this time the prince did not look angry anymore. Her tears dried up and she just sat there, itching to stare at him again. Eventually she worked up the courage to do so, and when she turned her head, she found that he was looking straight at her with those amber eyes. The proximity between them closed as she leaned in, Gweneth found herself easily wanting to just be in holding distance with him now days. He didn't seem to mind, as always.

They just stared at each other, for minutes, searching each others eyes. Having wordless conversations, arguments, finding a bond they had never knew they had before. Eventually Sheogorath stood up and walked into the water slightly. Gwen slowly followed behind, the weather changed around them, it was no longer a bright and sunny morning but a cold one with storm clouds approaching. The imperial rubbed her arms and brought down her hair, shielding her somewhat from the cold.

"Come here Starshine." The prince waved his hand motioning her to come, she did so. Wading her feet into the ocean as well, her toes felt frozen in her heels. He still stood a foot taller than her on the uneven ground, the wind picked up and Gwen huddled closer to the mad god's warm body. She couldn't see anything for her hair whipped around her face, she could see black and purple, her eyes itched. Why did the weather change so suddenly? It was such a nice day out too, a shame really. "You may now look."

The wind calmed a little letting her brush it away from her eyes, she wasn't sure what he meant by that but after rubbing her eyes and letting them focus she exhaled her lungs filled with breathe she didn't even know she was holding. Sheogorath looked... centuries younger. His hair was a warm oak brown color, full and soft looking to the touch. His eyes were the same molten gold that tended to look right into her soul. His skin, much tanner and tighter, embodying the look of youth. Those lips, carefully carved into a smirk at her reaction looked beyond kissable. His garb was the same as well as his frame, just as royal and built to a T as always. Gwen had to remind herself to close her mouth after a while of staring, so this is what she saw underneath the gray. Was this his true form?

"You're.. beautiful." She breathed.

"I should hope so lass, truth be told I am not that old of a Daedric prince. My brothers are far older than me and I forget why. I like to look older, regal, wiser than I am. I gain more respect that way. I have been in that state for so long I'm sure the rest of the princes forgot I looked like this... or they don't care. No matter." He grinned a little, and the clouds began to fade.

"..." Gweneth couldn't say a word but only stare up at him, she looked his age and it blew her mind. She couldn't decide which version of him looked better, older or younger.

"Khajiit caught your tongue?" He winked at her and she ducked her flaming head low. The lord held her chin up and placed a kiss on top of her forehead gently. "Skooma Cat likes tongues."

* * *

Cheesy I know. But, it's Sheogorath. He's a goob.

I hope you enjoyed it. I got a little bit of writers block during it, hopefully Sheo doesn't seem too.. off. Like, too much even for a slight personality change with the coming of Jyggalag. Relmyna next chapter, whooooooooo.

Leave a review to let me know whats up. It's super easy now, look it's right below this. Now even the lazy people can do it too! Hooray!

Much Love~ LadyMarrowind.


	11. Just Another Lackey

Before time runs out.

Ch. 11

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Coming upon a door Gweneth inspected it keenly, not for detail or anything, but in an attempt to find the mechanism which would open it. After a decent minute, she placed a hand against the door and it parted vertically. With a shrug, she looked around before entering. A dim light which seemed to come from a torch illuminated the room. At the end of the room was a female Dark Elf. The lady dark elf could not of been more than 4' 9", without the tall red mess of a bun most would consider hair. Dim torch light bounced off her perky, seemingly youthful skin. Adorned in a black silk own, laced at the back to keep it tight together.

Cautiously, she stepped through until he was but a few feet away from her before lightly tapping her shoulder. There was a slight delay before she turned around. When she did, it was in a quick, whipping motion. Locking her eyes with Gwen's, Relmyna started with a penetrating glare to her shimmering crimson eyes.

"You! I remember you. You're the adventurer who slew my Gatekeeper are you not?" her voice was unnaturally cranky and stern for someone whom looked as young as her.

"Yeah, I slew him. I needed to get in." Gwen felt an itch on her hand, almost gripping at her sword sheathed at her side.

The Relmyna's eyes widened a bit in shock. The sort of bluntness that answer carried was unheard of. "The ends justify the means, do they? You'll pay for that, one day. Now, by all means, come right in, walk in here as if you own the place." The sentence started out in an aloof, almost cynically happy tone. Continuing on, her tone began taking a condescending, pissy tone.

"By what authority do you disturb me?!" At this point her voice was a low, angry shout, the female's metaphorical claws came out. Gwen stood there, seemingly unaffected by the Elf's attitude. Almost immediately, she responded in a snappy tone, as if her antics were irritating her. Gwen didn't have much tolerance for people, even less for women..

"By authority of your Lord Sheogorath!" She emphasised the 'your' as she spoke, making sure the point came across. She wasn't Sheogorath's, she was doing this out of boredom. No one ruled over her, but the dark elf did have a master. As if she practiced and rehearsed, Relmyna retorted.

"I see. Sheogorath is too important to come on his own account? He sends his mortal lackey?" Still in tune with a questioning tone, the whole way she worded it an insulting way. Wanting to respond, she opened her mouth, but was swiftly cut short.

"Well then, I trust my servants didn't give you too hard a time getting in here. haha! What is it that Sheogorath's lackey requires of me?" In silent thought Gwen pondered her tone and accepted it for a compliment, even if it was obviously a sarcastic and spiteful in nature.

"A new Gatekeeper is required... milady." The last word was spat out, almost as if it was venom on the lips.

In a pleasant, almost awkwardly sincere voice, she spoke back. "Ah, your tone is more in line with my station. Please, continue." Relmyna's red eyes flashed with a wicked playfulness, it was becoming obvious that she was more insane than most of the residents in New Sheoth.

"Will you lend us your powerful magic?"

Almost at the mashing of a non-existent button, she went back to her rude, holier-than-thou voice."Yes, powerful magic indeed. It is proper that you bid me kindly lest I show you the meaning of pain and suffering." Flick. A second non-existent button was pressed and her tone dropped into a depressed, almost pitiful tone.

"Alas, I am still distraught over the destruction of my sweet child. I cannot return to his womb. You must do this." Slowly, her voice became distant, and dreamy as she continued to speak to Gweneth that had found a potion of healing bottle more fascinating than her and began to inspect it as she spoke, not paying the woman any mind until she got to business already.

"You will travel to the Gardens of Flesh and Bone. There, you will gather mystical components needed for the ceremony." The Imperial's eye twitched at the thought of collecting more items.

The sudden change of tone snapped Gwen from her thoughts as she stood there with a renewed glare at the shouting Relmyna before her. She spoke in dramatic, exaggerative ways. The fine eyebrows she had slanted along with her deeper frown. "Go fetch me Blood Liqueur, Osseous Marrow, Dermis Membrane, and Essence of breath. And take this key. It will allow entry into the gardens and give you direct access to my Sanctum."

Relmyna pulled a skeleton key from inside the chest of her dress, shoving it into the hands of the Imperial before raising her arm in a casting motion. "Away with you dog, and fetch me those components!" Gweneth bared her teeth menacingly and jammed the key into her pocket, quickly she walked out of the room, the door shutting tight as she left back into the previous room. She began to question why she was doing this at all, for entertainment? For Sheogorath? She didn't owe anyone, it wasn't as if she were repaying a debt or anything. The constant quests were becoming more trouble than it was worth. 

* * *

Yet another dreary dungeon, oh joy. Gweneth made her way down the numerous steps with ease, dungeon dwelling was one of her many skills she acquired throughout the years. Martin had loved to send her down there, with deadly skeletons, ghosts, and any other form of undead that wanted to kill her. It was a divine treat when there were Daedra scattered around, Clannfears were her absolute favorite.  
Making her way inside, the roof above came down in front of her, she didn't pay it any mind as she veered to the right and walked down the corridor there. Unsheathing her Blade of Woe, a creature came at her, one hit and it was over. The Imperial took a left and noticed that she was no longer in a dungeon anymore but an overgrown hole in the wall. Plants invested it but created a new way to get around. A makeshift gate easily opened up to her as she grabbed the pull pod, it nearly blended in with the background.

Daedae lead the way, sniffing for any trouble ahead, when he did the wolf ran ahead and killed the target to the best of his abilities. A few familiars and skinned hounds didn't do much for him. Gweneth took up the back, letting her bodily instincts lead her through the dungeon as her mind drifted in thought.

Her mind went straight to Sheogorath. Despite this, she shook away from him and pulled onto less awkward topics. Shadowmere, how was her longtime companion doing right about now? That Doyen best be taking good care of her in my absence. Better take care of her period, I might not be leaving this realm for a very, very long time. That horse is like a child to me. A furry, four legged child with flames for hair and can't speak common. Or any language for that.

Before long Gweneth herself standing on some long root, below her a glowing mushroom of sorts. She slid down next to it and inspected it. The heads were a beautifully light red, a deep yellow highlighting it. The undersides were covered in a thin membrane.

"Must be that Dermis Membrane Madame Stick-Up-Her-Ass was talking about." She ripped a huge chunk of the actual mushroom out of the ground just in case, tucking it away for safety. After that she quickly returned to her mind and entrusted the safety of her body to instincts and Daedae.

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Small chapter but it was collaborated with my buddy Ben, I get stuck easily so he really helped me. Thanks Ben, a lot.  
Leave a review, let me know you're still out there reading. Have a nice day.


	12. Relmyna's Love Letter

Ch. 12

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Hours had passed since Gwen had obtained the Dermis Membrane, she had obtained everything else except for the Essence of Breath but the windy caverns gave her an inclination that she would be finding it shortly. A starved Hunger came at her but by this time Gwen barely lifted her hands to incinerate the creature. Cave dwelling gave her great experience back in the day of her once innocent life.

"There." The imperial sighed with relief, at the end of cave was a large branched structure that sounded and felt as if it were breathing, pulling her in. The light green relaxing her greatly tired form, Gwen opened the bottle and let it float into the structure so it could extract the essence. "That's all that's needed, I should try to head back now."

Passwall looked worse for wear. Building were torn apart and the Order had made their mark. Oddly it looked okay to her, it was a giant change from the mystical fairy forest. The Wastrel's Purse seemed to still be open and Gwen just had an overwhelming urge to rest, it was like all her recent days events finally hit her body. The imperial nearly fell over from exhaustion, luckily for her she made the hike up the small row of stairs into the cabin. The hostess gave her no trouble when she deposited the ten gold onto the table and showed her to her room.

Sleep was nice, but it was vengeful. Gweneth hated sleep, she had been running on adrenaline the last few weeks and it finally caught up to her. The adventurer barely had enough time in her to strip her armor and weapons and lay down in the seemingly soft bed. The beds were never soft, but the blankets were always warm.

_"Starshine." She knew that voice anywhere, that deep sultry burr that echoed in rooms, echoed in her bones. "It's been so long, I have missed you so."_

_"Wh-where did I go?" Her sights went from black to a vivid peach, detailed slowly making themselves known before her. She didn't know where was, this was neither the Isles or Cyrodill._

_"Far far away into yourself, I have not been able to reach you since.. never mind that." Her prince finally came into view, he looked young and ageless, smiling so genuinely it hurt her to see him so.. happy. So purely happy. Haskill appeared behind him, looking the same as ever. They were located in a foreign city, the sun was setting behind the men and it looked utterly extraordinary. The mad prince's features glowed in the light, his golden eyes looked like they had melted and one could swim in them. Just float in the endless sea of amber and gold, feeling so warm and just content. Calm, complete._  
_People walked by them, every race in the empire minding their own business as if they did not see them. She didn't care though, her prince stood before her in his purple regalia. His hand outstretched before her, beckoning her presence. She smiled back at him, with everything she had. She felt complete, whole, content, warm, feelings she rarely experienced in life. Taking his hand was effortless, the madgod yanked her body closer to his into an embrace. They stood there in their embrace until the sun went down behind the mountains behind them._

_"I missed you so." Gweneth felt herself saying, tears streaking down her face. Why was she crying?_

_"I missed you too Starshine, without your help I wouldn't be here so for that I thank you." Sheogorath kissed her forehead softly._

_"Where did you go?" They drew apart for a moment, she could see the pain in his eyes."_

_"I.. I went-"_

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH" A scream filled the Inn, the landlady. Why was she screaming?

"Malady?" Gwen managed to drape a blanket around her and unsheathe her sword.

"A WOLF A WOLF IS TRYING TO KILL ME, HELP!" Daedae had followed her inside the Inn but had brought inside a kill later in the night. The woman screamed and alarmed the wolf into guarding his food, bearing his teeth that contained a gory mess.

"Daedae, come." Gweneth yawned as the canine wagged his tailed affectionately, bounding off to see her. "He's my pet, don't worry though he is tame. I am sorry for the mess, I'll clean it up.. later"

"Aye." The woman held a hand on her heart, from fright. "I think I'll be headin' to bed now."

The imperial stumbled back into her room, throwing her sword onto the floor carelessly. She almost jumped back into bed, that dream was glorious, she had not let her mind be so enjoyable for a while. It was something she needed, Gwen felt so much more calm and relaxed, she wished it were real. But her dreams would be enough for the moment. A piece of paper on the empty dresser near her bed caught her eye. Did the last tenant leave it behind? There was no seal on the letter so she opened it, hoping to maybe find who it was for. Her half awake mind did not prepare her for such a shock this late in the night.

_My beloved Sheogorath,_

_Forgive me, it's been so long I can't remember the last time I've written._

_I can only hope these letters reach you. I know your duties keep you busy, but any message from you would be welcome, even if it is given through that fool, Haskill. If it is not possible, fear not, my love is constant. I can remember the day you brought me to your realm as if it were yesterday. But I miss you terribly._

_You should see the supplicants mucking about in the Fringe these days. A few I think will be ready soon - the rest, who can say? If it weren't blasphemous, I might venture to say that the world has been slowly going sane. I can almost feel in my bones a chilling presence approaching, like a devouring emptiness. That does not bode well, but I trust in my Lord's power to keep our spirits well nourished from his bounteous showers of inspiration._

_Our child continues to destroy those pesky adventurers who come seeking treasure and glory._

_I have been sojourning here in Passwall, tutoring Nanette Don as an apprentice. She is one of the hopefuls that I believe will bloom soon. In the meanwhile, I can visit our child - I go see him every night around midnight, when the world is quiet, when it belongs to memory and imagination. He is strong and powerful like his father. Would that you visited us some time. It's almost cruel, the way you keep aloof from me. Sometimes I can't even bear to look at him, because I can remember when we created him, your glistening body in the pool, lovingly blending the components of flesh that would become our child - and afterward you tortured me in your sweet embrace. But now when I visit him, I can't help but weep like a little girl. I know how unlike me it seems... I just can't help it._

_To make matters worse, it seems my tears burn my poor creature. It agitates that Daedric soul bound in his body, threatening to sever the warding magic weaved into him. I didn't realize how badly that soul would seek release from the shell I grew in my gardens. But the flesh is pure. Perfect! Perhaps it is my own tears that hold the imperfection..._

_But I shouldn't be bothering you with these petty concerns. Our child, your Gatekeeper, stands guard over the Gates of Madness, mighty and powerful. No harm shall come to him._

_Yours truly and forever,_

_Relmyna_

Well that was a punch to the gut like no other, Gwen barely could stand, the letter burning in her hand. She-Sheogorath made a child with Relmyna? RELMYNA? That Gate Keeper?! She felt dirty, so wrong. That Dunmer had her hands on him, embrace, what? How, why, when? Oh by the nine she felt so sick. The imperial sat back down on the bed, staring more at the paper. Not wanting to look at it anymore, she discarded it in her pack. Trying to lay there for the rest of the night was hard, she had half a mind to go to his palace and just scream. Scream, yell, growl, destroy things, and finally cry alone. Why did she fall for a man who already had a love, why did she entertain her when Relmyna was ready and wanting for who knows how long. Gweneth realized she hated that woman for another reason now, she's had him, she- och she couldn't stop picturing Relmyna in a lit pool with the madgod, holding each other... Relmyna reaching up to bestow a kiss- No. She couldn't anymore. Gweneth would just give the woman her items and go.

* * *

"You have returned with all the components? Excellent. All that remains is to choose the body parts. Fearing one day someone might manage to kill my child, I have been preparing a new body. I have created versions of each appendage, with various enhancements. You must choose one of each. I am attached to them all. Artist's prerogative." She looked as if she were about to weep at the end of her speech but then she bit out cruelly. "Don't take all day making your choices."

Gwen nearly hissed at the woman, her new found knowledge had her arm twitching to unsheathe her sword and behead her on the spot. The body parts were in a room across from them so she made her way quickly there, just grabbing body parts to appease the woman. She didn't care what the beast will be made of, she just wanted to leave.

An arm of shock, an arm of chopping, breast of magic, heart of wound sharing, an angry mind, and legs of nimbleness later Gwen hulked all the parts over to Relmyna.

"You've made your selection. Now, we travel to the statue of our Lord, in the Fringe. There we will perform the ceremony. Make haste." The dunmer glared down at her, she looked at all the parts in her arms and walked away.

Gwen enlisted the help of Daedae, packing the limbs together and tieing the pack onto his back. It made the trip easier and the wolf didn't seem to mind much. The walk took hours with the added weight, the Fringe felt like it was a far off land. Eventually they passed through the gates to see an impatient Relmyna tapping her foot by the statute.

"Are you ready to start the ceremony?" She smiled a little, Gwen figured it was because she would have her precious child again.

"Yes." Gwen spoke as she unpacked the limbs from Daedae. She had no clue as to why she had to carry the limbs, it wasn't her kid.

"First place the Gatekeeper's body into the Cistern of Substantiation." She pointed to a giant purple pool that magically appeared from the ground. Gwen threw it all carelessly earning a glare from Relmyna. "At the beginning of the worlds were fire, water, earth, air, and light. Darkness turned into day. The Void took form. Hidden away, by virtue of its own self-awareness, was the sixth, containing within the five which birthed it. Flesh! Meat with desire to consume like fire... Place the Dermis Membrane into the cistern."

Gwen threw the membrane into the pit, Relmyna seemed to be holding her tongue as Gwen rudely threw pieces of her child into the cistern. "Luck! Liquid luck. Nutrient. That ocean which casts its pearls of life upon the shores of existence. Place the blood liquor into the cistern of substantiation. Bone, branch, and stone of the body. Giving shape and structure... Place the osseous marrow into the cistern. Breath, child of air, bestowing movement, the stirring of spirit... Place the essence of breath into the cistern of substantiation. And last the light of Flesh, the illumination of soul- perception, thought, memory, imagination. I summon thee, walker in Flesh. Flesh of true Flesh! From the waters of Oblivion, which sires thy kind." Relmyna summoned a beast to walk into the cistern. "Come to this altar. Join with this body. Quintessence of flesh joined with the Essence of Flesh. Absolute in mortal. Immortal bound to contingent. Stand clear of the cistern. Over by me."

Relmyna grabbed Gweneth to her side, the cistern started to glow bright and the Flesh Atronach within was taking shape. The Dunmer continued to cast spells and shout next to her, the Atronach became unconscious in the cistern, falling into it.

"Honored Daedra, fear not thy abasement. Thou shalt be the holy in this temple. I bind thee atronach to this body, henceforth Gatekeeper of the Shivering Isles." The cistern blew up, purple light and water flew everywhere creating a wave so hard that it knocked Gweneth off her feet and a great distance back. While Gwen was still in shock from the blast, Relmyna kept talking. "My child, it is time to fulfill your destiny. Stand guard in this land, all those who seek entry not bearing the mark of Sheogorath's favor. You shall know them from the coldness in their minds. A darkness in spirit... What's this? My child they are coming. Destroy them, show them your true power!"

The order had arisen from nowhere and began to charge the gatekeeper, Gwen was still stuck to the ground. The fluid of the cistern acted like quick drying glue, it was repulsive. Relmyna walked up to her, took her hand and yanked her from off the ground.

"Watch my child destroy the interlopers, or run to Sheogorath. Either way, tell him of our doings here. Send him my tribute..." She watched the elf grow a dark blue blush. "And my affections." The Gatekeeper easily slew the enemy, Gwen didn't bother to look but just glare at this woman who knew of her hate now. Gweneth said nothing as she passed by the dunmer and through the gate.

* * *

"A new gatekeeper! Excellent! We might be onto something with you, after all. That should keep out the stragglers. And I see you've learned how to summon Flesh Atronachs. Relmyna must like you little duchess, but probably not in that way..." Sheogorath winked at Gwen, normally she would blush but she kept a straight face and if anything was a little annoyed at him bringing her affections up. A messenger came running in shouting his name, barging past Gwen and knocking her to the ground.

"Lord Sheogorath I apologize for the intrusion, but you must help us! The Order has attacked Brellach and routed us." The messenger sounded exhausted and pained, panting on the steps.

"Well well, what a turn of events this is. It's new and I like new, even when its bad. And this is bad isn't it? My my." Sheogorath turned to Gwen on the steps and grinned. "This is a particularly exciting turn of events is it not? A perfect job for you, my newest and only Noble in the realm! If Order has entered my army's stronghold, things have taken a disturbing turn. It means Order has tried subterfuge... not it's strong suit. Amazing! Perhaps things aren't going as poorly as I'd imagined. You'll want to get all the details from the messenger. Unless you already have. You haven't, have you?"

"Why hasn't Jyggalag attacked himself?" Gwen stood up.

"Aren't you precious. Do you really not know? Haven't you noodled it all together yet? Because he is me! I'm him! We're a bit of each other really. I won't be here when he arrives, because I'll be him. Happens everytime. The Greymarch starts. Order appears, and I become Jyggalag and wipe out my whole Realm." Sheogorath sat back into his throne, fiddling with his cane and looking away from Gwen.

"When... when will it happen?" Gwen managed to make out, her voice dropped. The madgod was leaving.

"Soon. Too soon. I can already feel the change beginning. I'm not quite here, I'm not quite over there yet...but I'm not quite here. And I've been having moments of clarity that are quite unlike me.. like now." The prince looked at her, sad, tears welled up in Gwen's eyes.

"Can we stop it?" A few drops escaped her eyes, Sheogorath knelt down beside her and held up her chin.

"Stop it?" He said low. "Oh, no. Can't do it. Believe me, I've tried. It never ends well. But you're going to stop the Greymarch. Stop Jyggalag.. Me... from destroying my realm."

"What do we do now?" Her voice cracked a little, it felt like Martin all over again.

"Now? Nothing has changed." He wiped the tears off her face. "You deal with the messenger. Make sure my army is secure. You'll need them."

"Speaking of messengers..." Gwen untied her pack to give him Relmyna's letter. "Relmyna sends her love." The imperial glared at the prince, taking his hands off of her. Making it known her betrayed feelings from him. The messenger rambled on about needing her help when Gwen gave her attention. She didn't look back to see the mad god's reaction to the letter or to hear his response. She couldn't, and so Gweneth ran out of the palace on yet another rescue mission she cared not to go on.

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Reviews are my lifeblood!  
-LadyMarrowind.


	13. Impending Doom

Ch. 13

"Nothing has changed?! Nothing has_ CHANGED_?!" Gweneth screamed at the top of her lungs, making her way to Brellach. She could go back there and scream at him, but she wouldn't. As much as Gweneth didn't care for the citizens of the realm, she cared for the lord. She didn't want the realm to be destroyed with everyone in it. Gwen didn't care about dying, she got rid of that fear long ago, but she feared for Sheogorath.

Gweneth loved him, she knew that to be true. Whether she fought her feelings hard or very little the outcome was going to be the same. This man, this daedric prince just captivated her and never let go. He entertained her feelings, she wouldn't go as far to say that he loved her but she felt that there was something there, something mutual. So to hear the man tell her that nothing has changed enraged her, betrayed her. All hope was not lost, Gweneth had been working her ass off for this man and she'll be damned if everything fell to pieces. She wouldn't allow that, th Imperial would rather die than allow that.

She could see Sheogorath slowly dwindling. The few times they shared together alone only proved that, he kept up a facade among his people to keep them calm. Behind closed doors his clarity was only increasing, he was just as much troubled as herself. Gweneth caught pain in his eyes, a small fear behind them like it was the last Greymarch. She wouldn't go as far as him wanting to save her life, that he feared for her. He was an immortal and there would be another creature like herself to come around his realm eventually.

"I wanted to help, I wanted to stop it. For one brief moment I just wanted us to work, stop the Greymarch and just be together. To exist in the Shivering Isles with not a care in the world, spreading madness to citizens and creating.. little princes and princesses before I would die. Before the Void will take me and I serve my afterlife for Sithis. I WANTED THAT. WHY COULDN'T THE NINE JUST GIVE ME ONE THING." Tears streamed down her face, she wouldn't give up.

Brellach was a simple mission, Gweneth wasn't sure why they really needed her help. Staada their leader was kidnapped inside the fortress and they needed help to free her. The Order flooded the fortress so they felt overwhelmed. It was sad that the Golden Saints couldn't handle themselves, especially since they were immortal themselves.

The Order was prevalent inside but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Taking down priests and soldiers alike, the only time consuming part was just roaming the halls. The enemy wasn't smart, but there were a lot. The Golden Saint army behind her held together, and they came across a male Golden Saint. It was odd, really odd.

"I am all that is left, the others were struck down by Order. How did this happen? I know I am only a lowly male, but I am at your service. Shall I follow you into battle?" The saint did not look like he could handle another battle so soon.

"I want you to go outside and watch the perimeter in case any more Order come around. You will be useful protecting our only exit." Gwen nodded to him as he saluted.

"As you command." The saint ran off to the opening.

So many doors, so many staircases, up and down. Why couldn't these areas be less elaborate, it would have saved on construction time. The place was a maze, but she figured it was supposed to be so. This was a building of the Isles, of madness.

Eventually the saints and Gweneth made it to the last room, Staada could only be freed when chimes were rung throughout the room, this was easily done and the woman ran up to Gwen to say her thanks. It was a weird sight to them all to see the Duchess of Dementia in their fortress when it is highly forbidden. But because there was no Duke of Mania anymore, Gwen was the only Noble able to help.

"You have my thanks for freeing me, but just who are you?" Staada eyed her up carefully.

"I am the duchess of Dementia." Gwen bowed her head ever so slightly, this seemed to be the only Saint who was nice to her on first impression.

"Your Grace! I am so sorry I did not realize... Where is Thadon? Have you seen him? That traitorous coward!"

"What exactly happened here?" Gwen sheathed her sword and took a more relaxed pose, her explanation could take a while.

"Thadon... that snake. He showed up, asked for a contingent of guards, said that there was trouble and that we were needed. We were so focused on organizing quickly that by the time we realized that he'd let Order in himself, it was too late. We were split up and picked off. But it doesn't matter anymore, The only thing that matters now is the Wellspring. We must reach it at once!" The saint looked a mixture of anger and pained.

"What Wellspring? What do you mean?" Gwen stood up straight and held a hand on her sword.

"The Wellspring of Aureal. Its what links us to this realm, where we return from the realm from the waters of Oblivion. If Thadon helps Order sever that link... my kind will be annihilated. The realm will be lost to us. We must get to the Wellspring and stop them! I will follow your lead. The Wellspring is at the heart of Brellach; follow the waters to reach it. I am yours to command your Grace." Staada stood at attention and in that moment Gwen decided she liked her. "We must purge Order from our home!"

A few more staircases and a door later, the saints and Gweneth made it to the Wellspring. Following the golden water was not difficult. The door closed behind the group and a few screams were heard. Gwen turned around to only see Staada behind her. The other Golden Saints vanished.

"No the Wellspring! They've stopped it up. You.. you must make it to the Wellspring, and let the waters flow..." Staada began to fade, screaming she dropped to the ground lifeless. Gweneth stared at her for a moment before she got her resolve back. Smacking the large chime next to the Order's spikes that covered up the entrance with her sword, the spikes fell to pieces on the ground.

There was a long corridor with a bridge at the end, making her way to the bridge Gwen decided to break into a full on sprint. Not attacking any Order or priests she came across but dashed past them with all her might, she knew she wouldn't have enough energy alone to take them all at this point in Brellach, the saints had been taking most of the blows. Sneaking around corners and silently assassinating Order was her preferred path to go.

Chimes, there were so many in the final room it excited her. The blast from the chimes took out most of the Order that chased her, blasting them against walls. The Pyramid structure that contained the Wellspring crumbled to the ground along with the soldiers and priests. Golden Saints ran into the room, filling in there were at least twenty. Gwen searched for Staada, she was the last to run inside.

"The Wellspring is restored! You have saved us! We are forever grateful your Grace. Please allow me to teach you this spell so that you may summon our kind to you in your time of need. Also accept this gift of armor, it is the least I can do to show thanks for your help." The saint smiled, she glowed a little brighter when she was happy.

"What about Thadon?" Gwen carefully put her rewards inside her pack, they had to have found him escaping. She sent that male golden saint out there for a reason.

"No sign of him yet. We'll do our best to track him down, and deliver him to Lord Sheogorath for a fitting punishment. The traitor must be brought to justice!" Staada growled.

"What happens now?" Gwen readied her pack and stood up from her knees, the saints were much taller than her.

"Our warriors will scour the halls of Brellach, removing any last elements of opposition. Then we will immediately return to our duties." She smiled a little, obviously happy this was all over.

"Then I shall take my leave." Gwen didn't want to leave Sheogorath's side anymore.

"Indeed. Lord Sheogorath will be anxious to hear of our victory, I am sure." With that Gwen left Brellach, happy to finally breathe in some fresh air.

* * *

There was a foreboding feeling in her gut that Gweneth couldn't shake. Just like when she was on her way to Apple Watch and found.. Lucien strung up by his ankles and torn to shreds. Just like when Martin broke up with her right before he condemned himself to his suicide mission. Something was wrong in the air and that only put fire on her heels to return to New Sheoth.

Daedae occasionally whimpered from the pain in his paws, Gwen would apologize profusely for making the wolf travel so much with her, he wasn't conditioned yet. She feared he would hurt himself, so Gwen carried him on her back with her pack on top of him. She couldn't stop for a break, she wouldn't stop for anything. The closer she came to the capital the worse the feeling got, to the point where she felt like her skin was aflame, her heart in a vice, and her stomach doing backflips. Every citizen and guard went about their day as usual, greeting her as Duchess or Dog. Did they not realize that something horrible was going to happen? That their realm was hanging on by a thread?

The palace looked the same, golden saints and dark seducers alike roamed the grounds neutrally. People carried on about their day. Daedae climbed off her back as she opened the wooden door to her impending doom.

"Sh-Sheo?" Gwen's voice was barely above a whisper. He wasn't on his throne or in plain view, Haskill looked her in the eye and pointed to his side. Sheogorath looked up from his staff and greeted her with sad somber eyes.

"Time." He started, and reached for her hands. "Time is an artificial construct. An arbitrary system based on the idea that events occur in a linear direction at all times. Always forward, never back, is the concept of time correct? It... matters not, one way or another. I fear our time has run out. As I feared it would, my plan has failed. The Greymarch is upon us, and I must go."

"No.. Sheogorath, no. Please-" The madgod cupped his hands around her face, Gweneth started to cry profusely.

"I thought we had more time. I thought we had a chance. My plan has failed, and we were so so close..." His golden eyes darkened, they were glossy.

"What.." Gwen choked out in tears. "What happens now?"

"What happens is what always has happened- what always will happen. I crumble. I fade. The realm dies... and you with it... flee while you can, Starshine. When we next meet I will not know you, and I will slay you like the others." Sheogorath looked away slightly, disgusted with himself.

"But, we haven't failed-" Gweneth sputtered, reaching up and holding his face to hers.

"Optimism! How adorable, I love it." The prince held her close. "Even at the end, you make me laugh... No matter. Soon you and everyone else will be dead, and I will be left a madgod... a ruler of a dead realm.. again." Sheogorath closed his eyes, holding them tight.

"What can I do, there must be something I can do! It's not all lost, I won't give up on you!" Gweneth reached up and used all her might to just kiss him on the cheek, she stayed there hoping all her affections went through. Sheogorath held her tighter and breathed out a defeated sigh.

"I had intended to give you my staff, the symbol of my office. But life has gone from it, as it goes from me. It is now dead wood, a useless twig. With the staff there was hope... But now hope is dead. I am dead... and the realm..." The prince let go of her quickly and pushed her back, the Imperial fell to the ground on her back. Light sprayed everywhere from Sheogorath.

_"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH THE REEEEAAAALLLMMM IIISSS DEEEEEAAAADDDD!"_ A split voice screamed in agony. Sheogorath fell to the floor, more light forced itself out of him. He looked up in pain one last time at Gweneth before his body was enveloped in light. _"SSHHHEEEOOOGOORAAATHHH IS DEEEEEAAAAADDDD."_

_"ALL SHALL CRUMBLE BEFORE JYGGALAG!"_ The mass grew as large as a house, and vanished in a loud boom. Sheogorath was nowhere to be seen.

"N-no. No. Nonononononono!" Gweneth screamed at the top of her lungs, screamed for everything she was worth. She screamed until her voice gave out, and then silently screamed some more. Her prince was dead.

"Malady." Haskill picked her up from the ground, Gweneth beat into his chest, kept hitting him with all her might. Haskill just took it with no comment, and restrained her when there was no energy left within her. "He is gone but hope is not all lost... we have a rare opportunity here, but I hesitate to do what must be done. If the throne of Madness remains empty Jyggalag storms the palace, he will prevail. But there is a chance that the throne may not be empty."

"Who will sit at the throne?" Gwen mumbled into his shoulder.

"Why you of course. It has always been Sheogorath's intent to raise you to sit upon the throne of Madness." Haskill rubbed her back reassuringly like a father.

"But I am not a Daedric prince." Gweneth removed her head from his shoulder.

"True- but perhaps you can hold the throne- provided that you possess the proper symbol of office. Namely the staff of Sheogorath." Haskill released her from his grip.

"What must I do?" Gweneth dried the tears from her eyes.

"Unfortunately, when Sheogorath faded, the power of his staff faded with him. It must now be remade. The staff is the symbol of power in this realm. He who rightfully holds the staff may hold the throne of the Shivering Isles. However the secrets of it's construction is lost." Haskill looked grim, as if he barely believed this could actually happen.

"Lost?! You said there was hope!" The imperial yelled.

"That which is lost can be found again. There is one being in the Shivering Isles who may be able to assist you in the construction of a new staff. The ruins of Knifepoint Hollow once served as a great library. There, you will find a door. Behind that door you will find the answer you seek... Although I hesitate to guide you towards this path. The secrets of the past will surely aid Jyggalag, but I fear we have no other choice... Be mindful of what you find there. The library is a thing of Order, and it will still serve that end. Take this crystal, it contains the power to open the sealed door. Inside you will find the final remnants of the library." Haskill handed her the Knifepoint crystal to carry in her pack, Gwen slipped it inside.

"Go with me, I need your help. I can't do this alone." Gweneth already felt her mind splintering from the stress and pain, she had always thought one final heartbreak would do her in and it feels as if she could barely breathe. "Please I beg of you."

"No, I cannot. I have to duties to serve here still. I am running the Shivering Isles while there is no one on the throne. The realm needs me here, but you must go to Knifepoint Hollow alone." Haskill gave her a sad smile and shooed her away. "I believe in you Malady."

* * *

Bwaaahh we're almost at the end, epic conclusions/ surprising twists!  
Stay tuned!  
Reviews are my lifeblood!  
~LadyMarrowind.


	14. Madness

Ch. 14

Gweneth would never wish this feeling upon anyone. To feel so so dead inside. Her innards weren't rotting, they were far past decay. She was a walking corpse, as ancient as time. The only thing keeping her moving was Haskill. For he has said hope was not all lost, that was her drive.

The imperial ran her thumb over the dull staff as she walked. The wood no longer heavy but a husk of what it once was, heh Gwen smiled, at least she had one thing in common with her new accessory. The Isles shimmered beautifully in parts where the order had not reached yet. Vibrant colors melting together in the sky as she walked on through the hills.

She hurt so much. She hurt so much the pain dulled to numbness. Gwen felt herself fading, away from who she was. But she lacked the emotion to care. Blank puffed up eyes looked to the skyline ahead, turned and kept on. Daedae was left behind with Haskill for he was too weak to go on. Gweneth had kept on at an inhuman pace, people would rest more but the Imperial couldn't stop. She was so driven, and now that the Greymarch was here she couldn't afford to stop.

Everything was a blur to her though, she was sure she was on the right path but for the life of her she couldn't remember what she had just done. There was no memory, it was as if she was running on autopilot. She felt nothing, she saw nothing, and remembered even less. Gwen was a mindless killing machine.

There was someone named Dyus, and she had absorbed all he had to tell her in order to complete the staff. The imperial had to create it from scratch. The man would create the actual staff but she had to gather the power for it. For that she had to kill a woman for an eye, for it has seen things that are unseen. Gwen also had to take a branch from one of the oldest trees in the Isles, named the Tree of Shades. He cautioned her well regarding the tree and said this was no easy task.

She didn't care. Her mind forgot it all after he sent her off, only following her subconscious's orders. Treading through the Howling halls was easy enough, a religious group wanted their leader dead so they could harness the light she kept from them. Cirta was the woman who she needed to kill in order to take her eye. Dressing as an apostle didn't do much for Cirta knew what was coming. The group bickered for minutes and when the battle commenced Gwen approached the woman from behind and slit her throat before she could swing her sword arm.

Milchar wasn't exactly so easy as she thought. The grove of reflection required her to reveal her true self before she was allowed to take on of it's branches. Of course she didn't realize that she was going to be fighting herself. Gwen dropped down to the lower layer of the caves and turned left when she found foliage. A turquoise stone shown bright within the grove, the imposing tree behind it. Putting a hand on the stone, it shown bright and glitter covered a growing black mass beside her.

_"What's a matter Gwen? Nothing to fight for? Everyone you love is dead? Aww you poor baby. HaHAHahhah!"_ The black mass looked like an exact copy of herself, just a shiny black version with turquoise glitter speckled all over her. But the creatures voice was dripping with malice.

"What are you?" Gwen reached for her sword, the copy did as well. It looked as if the woman had everything she had, the imperial woke up from her numbess and swallowed a lump in her throat.

_"I'm you, silly. Well, actually I am better than you."_ She laughed a dark laugh _"I would have stopped the Greymarch. I would have saved Sheogorath."_

"You're lying, I was working faster than anyone else would have. I never stopped. I was so close!" Her fingers itched over her hilt.

_"YOU FAILED. YOU KILLED SHEOGORATH. YOU KILLED LUCIEN. YOU KILLED VICENTE. YOU MURDERED MARTIN. THEY ALL FAILED BECAUSE OF YOU. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT THEY ARE DEAD."_

"NO!" Gwen screamed at the top of her lungs, and lunged for the copy. She couldn't get a hit on herself, no matter where she hit she was evenly matched.

_"You will die alone. You've always been meant to be alone."_ The copy giggled, prancing around Gwen blocking every attack.

"Why are you saying these things to me?! This is not my true self!" Gwen conjured fire between her fingers, setting her sword on fire. The copy did not repeat her actions.

_"THIS IS WHAT YOU TRULY FEEL. YOU'RE WORTHLESS AND YOU'RE THE REASON EVERYONE IS DEAD."_ The copy glided across the plane between them and took a slash at her. This time the copy connected and cut deep into Gwen's forearm.

"That may be true but I've avenged all of them, and will avenge Sheogorath." The growl emitted from those lips were barely human. While the copy's sword was still embedded into her forearm, Gwen pushed her lit sword into the copies gut.

_"You won't succeed."_ She spit black blood onto Gwen's face before melting into nothing. The young and broken woman slumped to the floor for a few minutes. Crying, screaming, clawing into the dirt below. Eventually she would get up and snap off a branch before leaving the place.

* * *

"You have the items. Contrary to all prediction. Once again, you defy the path set before you. However what comes next is unclear. If you wish to confront what is to come, I shall create the staff for you. You posses the eye and the branch, together they shall form the physical shape of the staff of Sheogorath. After I shape them into the staff, you must take it to the seat of power in the Shivering Isles- The palace of Sheogorath. There imbue the staff with power from the Font of Madness. Soak the staff in the waters of the land, and it will open it's full power to you." Dyus looked up at her with old eyes, assessing how she defied all predictions he had of her. "Now, take your treasure and leave me."

The staff formed in front of her eyes, the branch becoming elongated and spiked at the end, Ciirta's eye enlarging to fit on top of the staff. It was incomplete, but only for a moment until she dunked it in the Font of Madness ahead.

"Ah you're back. As you can see we have a little bit of a problem." Haskill looked ashamed, as if he failed her already.

"What's wrong with the Font?" Gwen set the incomplete staff aside.

"Order. The taint appeared only a short time ago, but it has spread quickly. I fear that soon we all will be serving a new master." The man before her looked tired for once, the lines in his face beginning to show his true age.

"You mean Jyggalag..." Gwen's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Yes. His agents must have found a way to poison the Font with Order. Once the Font of Madness becomes the Font of Order. Jyggalag has won."

"But we've beaten him at every turn!"

"Somehow the forces of Order have poisoned the pools of Mania and Dementia that feed the Font. I suspect the Traitor Thadon. Jyggalag has never had an original thought in his existence. Be that as it may, You will have to enter the fountainhead beneath the tree and find the source of the poison." Haskill clasped Gwen's hands in between his and gave her a reassuring nod before she went.

This was it. This was her last mission and she would be able to save the Isles. Gwen passed through the door behind the tree within the throne room. Gnarls were trying to remove order everywhere she passed them. They were tame and would follow her around, as if they knew she was there to help.

Priests defended large blocks of Order spikes within the water, knights patrolled the halls nearby. By this time Gwen had figured these enemies out, they were nothing to her. Thadon would be ripped to shreds and fed to the Gnarls. So many tunnels, so many priests of order that weren't Thadon.

Gwen switched her claymore for a katana, and poisoned it when she head Thadon's babbling.

"You of course, Sheogorath's assassin. I see so clearly now, what a fool I have been, A happy heedless fool." There were about five priests of order running after her as Thadon spoke above the lake they all fought in.

"Now he must have mocked me, with my poems and painting, and my meaningless revelry. BUT NO MORE. NO MOORRE. Instead she is dead! You will pay FOR KILLING HER!"

Six men ran after her with swords, six priests of order. Water splashed about as she ran, fumbling to free one of her hands to summon a beast. A dremora was what she got, the demon-like creature spitting blood and crying a battle roar in a forgeign tongue. Gwen ran for high ground, throwing flames out of her hands as she tried not to trip over shards or Order.

"My beautiful duchess, you killed her!" Thadon gunned for her, not caring about the dremora decapitating his men behind him.

"Sheogorath wanted her dead, I was only following orders!" Gwen fell to the ground, raised roots from a tree caught her footing.

"You lie! You wanted her position you harlet! You killed my love!" Thadon swung his dagger at her, pinning her down to the ground. Gwen tried her best to roll them over but the madman seized her neck.

"You ruined everything!" Thadon cried out "Now you will di-aaahhh!" His robes were set aflame, the madman rolled off of gwen and on the ground in order to put the flames out. The imperial just continued to burn him alive until he was a charred corpse. Gwen rose to her feet, took his shard of order and restored the last lake underground.

* * *

"Haskill!" Running out of the tree, she turned the corner to see Haskill smiling at her. The Font was restored and she could finally imbue the staff. Gwen grabbed his sleeve to come with her. Dunking the staff in the fountain gave it life. It didn't just feel like a branch anymore, it had the power of Sheogorath.

"My lord!" A dark seducer ran up to her out of nowhere. "Autkendo Jansa sent me to find you. She requests your immediate assistance."

"What does she want?" Gwen looked over at Haskill, he let her hand him the staff to hold onto.

"I don't know my lord. She only said it was of gravest importance to the security of the realm." She ran off to the door. Gwen followed her but it seemed that said woman was already inside the palace walking up to her.

"My lord, I am glad to see you. We have a developing situation that requires your attention. An obelisk had just activated itself just outside the palace. I've ordered my Mazken to engage the enemy. I suspect that this is the beginning of the final assault. The cursed usurper Jyggalag himself may even take the field before the end. What are your orders my lord?" She smiled bright at her, as if she knew her all her life.

"Attack with full strength." Gwen looked outside behind them, the sky became very dull.

"With pleasure my lord, My Mazken will gladly die in your service." Autkendo grinned, unsheathed her sword and ran out the door. Her dark seducers followed her out. Gwen sighed and unsheathed her sword as well, making her way out the door.

Order ran up the steps, her people ran down them, impaling each other. Magic cracked all over, and large shards of order rose out of the ground. The sight was bleak and bloody. Sheogorath's servants fought to the death for her, Gwen perched on a corner watching all of the mess. She waited for Jyggalag, hoping it was him.

A second Obelisk popped up, teleporting more Order into the palace grounds. She needed to destroy it before they were all overwhelmed. Jumping over the fighting crowd below, Gwen looted corpses of Order for their hearts, once she had three she threw her sword into the Priest of Order's chest, pinning him to the ground. No one seemed to notice her inserting the hearts of Order into the Obelisk. She moved onto the other one on the opposite side of the grounds, more knights came through and ran forward without noticing her inserting three more hearts.

The gray sky lit up white, a large sphere hovered high in the sky. Jyggalag was here, his form crashing into the earth. Everyone fell back from the force of the crash except Gwen. Jyggalag laughed a robotic laugh and stood taller than a house. He ran for her, crushing the bodies that laid before him.

"You hold the staff but you are no Daedric prince!" Lightning flew from his hands, stunning the imperial to her knees. "This ends how it always does, Order shall reign!"

Gweneth threw fire at Jyggalag, lunged at him with her sword. Dark seducers and Golden saints joined in, circling him so he couldn't ever reach Gwen when swinging. With the constant barrage of weapons he fell to his death. The body crumpled and faded away, but a giant orb appeared with Jyggalag's face talking straight to Gwen.

"Enough! I am beaten, the Greymarch has ended. For millenia this drama unfolded, and each time, I have conqured this land, only to be transformed into that gibbering fool Sheogorath. It was not always so, once I ruled this realm, a world of perfect order. My dominion expanded across the seas of Oblivion with each passing era. The other princes, fearful with my power, cursed me with Madness, doomed me to live as Sheogorath, a broken soul reigning in a broken land. Once each era I was allowed my true form, conquering the world anew. And each time I did the curse was renewed, damning me to excist as Sheogorath. Now though, you have ended the cycle. You now hold the mantle of Madness, and Jyggalag is free to roam the voids of Oblivion once more. I will take my leave, and you will remain here, mortal... Mortal? King? God? It seems uncertain. This realm is yours, Perhaps you will grow to your station. Fare thee well Sheogorath, prince of Madness." Jyggalag waited for a moment to watch Gwen. Her life was shattered, he had just told her that she was Sheogorath and he used to be. Gwen looked up at the Daedric prince, tears stained her eyes, she was a broken woman to rule a broken land. She mouthed 'don't leave me' but Jyggalag was already fading.

* * *

"You've done it! Well done Lord Sheogorath! I never doubted you for a moment. Now of course there is business to attend to. As you have assumed the mantle of Sheogorath, there are matters that deserve your attention." Haskill smiled and guided her to the throne, Sheogorath's clothing sat upon it, but it was different. It was a dress instead.

"Haskill where is Sheogorath. I defeated Jyggalag.. he should come back right?" Her voice raised at the end, tears muddied her vision.

"Ah my lord, you are him now. He is no longer." Haskill cringed at the sound of a sword clattering to the ground.

"Gone? You said there was hope. YOU SAID THERE WAS HOPE!" Gwen turned on him so fast the man had no time to respond, Haskill was pinned again a pillar by his throat. Guards made no move to help him.

"Hope to save the realm madam! Sheogorath is just a title now!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE REALM." Gwen threw him aside, reaching for the dress neatly piled on the throne. She hugged the clothing for all it was worth, it smelled of him.

"This was his plan! Jyggalag wanted to be free, he is the only thing remaining of Sheogorath or what he once was."

"He cant be dead, no n-no he cant be." Gwen started to stutter, dropping her pack of items to the floor. A dark seducer took the bag and set it in her new bedroom. A golden saint asked her if there was anything she could do to help.

"My lord?" The saint asked again.

"Look at me and what do you see?" Gwen turned to face the guard.

"I see my lord and creator lord Sheogorath." The saint smiled.

"What gender am I?" Gwen felt sick.

"Male my lord." At that answer she turned to Haskill.

"THEY THINK I AM HIM?! HASKILL!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, confusing her guards entirely. Haskill shooed them out of the room temporarily.

"Yes you are now him! Every one of your subjects do not see you as you are but instead Sheogorath as he always has been." He began to undress her in order to have her wear her new dress to complete the look. "It is best you wear the uniform, for they can see what you wear but not your face."

"Do you see me Haskill? Or am I too an old man in front of you?" Gwen began to cry, her friend dressing her to fit her office.

"I see a young girl, beaten and broken down, who lost her heart too many times. I see a woman given up on life." Haskill dried her eyes and sat her down on the throne. "You have the power of a daedric prince, or at least you will in time. When you obtain it you can shape the realm to whatever you fancy. No longer will you hurt, you are safe now. I will always be here for you my lord. I understand that this is a lot to take in at once so I advise you go back home for a vacation. When you return we discuss your responsibilities."

"Why did I do this Haskill? The moment I saw him I knew I was going to be too deeply invested if I continued. Why didn't I just go back to Tamriel?" Gwen stared at her dress, her hands fiddling with her new staff.

"Because you had hope and wished to love once again."

"I TOLD MYSELF MARTIN WAS THE LAST, I COULDN'T SURVIVE ANOTHER HEARTBREAK. WHY AM I STILL ALIVE?"

"Because you're now immortal my lord. No matter what you try you cannot die."

"Damn this cursed hell."

* * *

Something inside her snapped, really snapped. Under all the stress, anxiety, and pain she had gone through her mind snapped. So here she was standing in front of the Sheogorath shrine in Cyrodill, his subjects didn't notice who she was for they were not of her realm. Her realm, the sound of it felt so wrong. She shouldn't have a realm, she shouldn't be a madgod. But here she was, immortal and slowly being filled with Madness. She placed a head of lettuce and ball of yarn on the alter along with a soul gem. She felt the shrine notice her as a familiar voice began to speak.

"Praying to yourself my lord? That is not a good sign, or perhaps it is? Prince of Madness and all that... While I believe you should be on vacation, it is of course your prerogative to spend time where ever you wish. Your predecessor did have one task he wanted preformed, though he never found a mortal suited for the task. There is a settlement called Border Watch, that your predecessor found rather dull. This, of course offended him greatly. They are-" The rest of Haskill's voice was drowned out. She was sure she would hear him again.. so sure... so sure.

"I just.. I wanted to see if he would respond Haskill.." Her voice was hoarse from all the crying she had recently done, she watched the statue of a man she loved sound like her servant. It was devastating to say the least.

"I'm sorry my lord. I've told you, he is gone. I advise against any further investigating for it shall only end in further disappointment."

"I'm sorry." Gwen sat down on the dirt, "I thought... I th- I just.."

"Come back to the Isles my lord, I cannot leave my station but I wish to comfort you."

"A-alright."

* * *

Time passed, or at least that's what mortals would say. It still felt like an eternaty for her. Gweneth went mad to say the least, she posed as Sheogorath as she was supposed to do. Mortals bored her, they fought and died while she lived on. No longer did she stay in Tamriel but she watched her old guilds as her guildmates grew old and the other died in battle from the war. The Oblivion crisis ended by her hands but the destruction it left cause so much more conflict. The theives guild looted her home, stealing everything of value and leaving the shack to burn as the war raged on. The fighters guild was slaughtered and disbanded after their headmaster left and the second in command couldn't keep everything together.

The Dark Brotherhood were picked off and the rest ran to Skyrim with the dread mother after the keep in Bravil was found out. The mages guild stayed around but altered so much it was nothing like the place she commanded. She cared the least about them, there would always be mages who thought they owned anything magical. The would survive like the roaches they were. The more she watched Tamriel the more she became bored with it. She had what she needed, a realm to rule, Shadowmere as her steed, Daedae by her side. She needed nothing else, maybe a little entertainment. War wasn't entertaining anymore.

She needed another vacation, but not to Tamriel.

"Haskill, you can handle yourself around here right? I'm hoping you can because if I see an Island misplaced or a Khajiit on fire when I get back I'll gut out your eyes." Gwen smiled gingerly.

"Have yourself a wonderful time Gweneth." Haskill nodded, he preferred calling her by her name for he knew she hated being called Sheogorath.

* * *

"More tea Pelly my dear?" Gweneth sat at a dinner table with her friend Pelagius.

"Oh, I couldn't. Goes right through me. Besides I have so many things to do... So many undesirables to contend with. Naysayers. Buffoons. Detractors. Why my headsman hasn't slept in three days." The king droned on.

"You are far too hard on yourself, my dear, sweet, homicidally insane Pelagius. What would the people do without you? Dance? Sing? Grow old? You are the best Septim that's ever ruled. Well, except for that Martin fellow, but he turned into a dragon god, and that's hardly sporting. You know I was there for that whole sordid affair. Marvelous time! Butterflies, blood, a fox, a severed head... Oh, and the cheese to die for!" She just got all excited thinking of the memories. Ah such good good memories.

"Yes yes, as you've said countless times before..." The dead king sounded pained from stress.

"Hafrumph! Well then, if you're going to be like that... Perhaps it's best I take my leave of you sir. I said good day!" Gwen raised her hands and snapped in the air.

"Yes, yes go. Leave me to my ceaseless responsibilities and burdens..." With a puff of purple smoke the king was gone.

"How rude. Can't be bothered to host an old friend for a decade or two." Gwen stood up from her chair and looked over the man before her. He wore an iron helmet with tusks sticking out at the sides and looked to be wearing iron armor. She had no idea how this man entered the mind of Pelagius, she was sure she locked the entrance..

"Who were you talking to?" The man looked as if he saw a pig with wings, she was sure she hadn't invited winged pigs this time.

"Emporer Pelagius III. Now surely you even know of Pelagius' decree? On his deathbed- oh, and this was inspired- he forbade... death! Thats right! Death! Outlawed!" She giggled and tugged on her dress.

"I'm here to deliver a message." The man looked at her odd, not the normally odd she usually got when talking to mortals. No like he could see past the glamour of Madness.

"Reeeeaaaallllyyyyy? Ooh ohh what kind of message? A song? A summons? Wait, I know! A death threat written on the back of an argonian concubine! Those are my favorite. Well mortal? Spit it out, I haven't gotten an eternity. Actually... I do. Little joke. But seriously, what's the message?"

"I was asked to retrieve you from your vacation." The man looked as if he felt out of place.

"Were you now? By whom?- WAIT DON'T TELL ME. I want to guess." She hopped up and down excitedly. "Was it Molag? No no- Little Tim the toymaker's son? The ghost of King Lysandus? Or was it.. Yes! Stanley, that talking grapefruit from Passwall... wrong on all accounts aren't I? Hah no matter, I don't want to know honestly. Why ruin the surprise? But more to the point, do you puny tiny, expendable little mortal- actually think you can convince me to leave? Because.. that's crazy. You do realize who you're dealing with here?"

"All I know is that your people need you to return." The man was beginning to look irritated.

"Yaaawwwwnnn. Oh, pardon me. Were you saying something? I do apologize but it's just that I find myself suddenly and irrevocably.. bored! I mean, really. Here you stand before Sheogorath himself, Daedric prince of Madness, and all you deem to fit to do is.. deliver a message? How sad."

"Does that mean you'll leave or not?" The man raised his voice, it would seem he has a low tolerance for fun.

"Now that's the real question is it?Honestly, how much time could a demented daedra really need? So here's what I am going to do. I'm going to leave, that's right. Holiday... complete. Time to return to the hum drum day-to-day. On one condition. You have to find the way out first. Good luck with that."

"Okay what's the catch?" The man sighed and stretched his arms out.

"Ha! I love it when the mortals know they are being manipulated. Makes things infinitely more interesting. Care to look around? I dare say this is not the Solitude Botanical Gardens. Have you any idea where you are? Where you truly are?" She paused for effect. "Welcome to the deceptively verdant mind of Emporer Pelagius III. That's right, you're in the head of a dead homicidally insane monarch. Now I know what you're thinking. Can I still rely on my swords, my sneak, spells and all that nonsense? Sure. Sure. Or you could use... THE WABBAJACK. Huh? Huh? Didn't see that one coming, did you?" Gwen handed over the staff she earned centuries ago.

"What if I told you that my friend knew how to get the real Sheogorath back?" The man who now looked more like a nord than imperial upon inspection smirked when he saw her look back at him.

"I am the real Sheogorath mortal, are ye daft?" Gweneth stood up from her throne and put her hands on her hips.

"Last time I checked the Prince of Madness was not a female." The nord laughed lightly.

"So you can actually see me? Daedric Princes can be any gender they please. What kind of mortal are you?" Gwen came up to the man, he was taller than her by a few feet.

"I just have this feeling you are not him, I am dragonborn." The man stared down at her.

"Figures." Gweneth grumbled. "So explain to me mortal, how would you go about finding the 'real' Sheogorath hmmmm?" Gwen was infuriated by the nord and his superior stance.

"Simple. You take me to Jyggalag, preferably his mind instead. I'll have a talk with your old buddy." This Dragonborn made it seem like it was so simple.

"My Sheogorath is gone from this world. Jyggalag would never turn back to to his former self for me. I can take you to him but not his mind." Gwen started to tear up at the thought, after two hundred years she learned to forget about him.

"Just leave it to me my lady." The nord bowed to her, and waited for her assistance.

"Fine, you'll be my Champion. Just don't get killed." Gweneth snapped her fingers and they were in another realm.

Jyggalag knew they were coming, for he was the most powerful Daedric prince of all. He analyzed the past and present in detail, he knew eventually the mortal turn madgog would come for him, but unaware of the hour. He had much time since they last saw each other to regain order in his new realm, he was back on top. Gwen hoped that, for some odd twist of fate this would work. He may be mortal but he was her champion, if he succeeded he would be rewarded handsomely.

"Sheogorath, you do not belong here." The prince of Order leaned upon his obelisk shaped throne. Everything around them was a shade of gray.

"I just came by for a visit, old buddy old pal. This mortal wishes to speak to you." Gwen motioned her hands to the Dragonborn.

"Aye. If I could speak to you a little more privately?" The nord walked up to the prince, leaving Gwen behind.

The Imperial tuned the two out, Jyggalag seemed to be in a better mood since she saw him last. It was understandable she guessed, being yourself again and all. She envied that, to be you and not someone else. Living by the name of the man she loves was nothing short of torture. Too have your subjects see you as the man you love but you look in the mirror and see yourself, just infuriating. Living for 224 years doesn't exactly mend your heart but you learn to give gouge it out and keep it in a box so you wouldn't feel. Gwen didn't actually gut her own heart out but she did to many others. She wasn't so sure if she were to do that, would she die? She was born mortal. She wouldn't kill herself for mainly just Haskill, she couldn't leave him alone.

"Begone mortal. I want you out of my realm before I kill you myself." Jyggalag threw the Dragonborn to the madgod's feet.

"Assuming that didn't work out for you laddie?" Gwen picked the man up, he seemed a little dazed, but being thrown like a ragdoll would do that to you.

"I am not killing him out of respect for you Gweneth. You saved me so your champion does not die today." The Prince mounted his throne again, looking utterly bored.

"Thank you." She dropped the nord on his ass and stepped up to the prince. "Why did you leave me there that day? You knew, you may not be him anymore but he is apart of you. I see him within you. You.. you left me."

"I have no obligation to you mortal. I should have smote you where you begged. I could have destroyed you and the realm but I didn't. I owe you nothing." His eyes were hard and grey but she knew there was gold in there somewhere.

"I am not mortal any longer, you cannot kill me. You are powerful, you took away the one thing I lived for, and you cant give it back? That is a shame Jyggy. A damn shame." Gwen turned to walk away.

"I know you loved him, but he is no longer here." Jyggalag sighed.

"Love. I love him. I never stopped. He is not gone, merely changed and stubborn." Her back faced him, she prepared to leave by grabbing onto the nord at her feet.

"You would make a fine Queen." She stilled for a moment.

"I don't belong to Order." Gweneth whistled, creating a portal to Solitude.

* * *

"Where am I what happened?" The nord finally woke up, they were on the coast of Solitude. It was quite secluded so no one had a chance to see them for a long while.

"You were thrown by a daedra prince, knocked you out." She giggled a bit, her champion looked embarrassed,

"I'm guessing I didn't convince him."

"No."

"I'm sorry. Thought I could help."

"I am no longer on holiday, your mission was a success."

"Jyggalag was really mad, I thought I was going to die."

"What did you say to him?"

"I thought since I read enough lore books on daedra I could have outsmarted him."

"Hahaha you cannot outsmart the daedric prince of order. You are a dense nord."

"It was worth a shot." The dragonborn stood up and dusted his greaves.

"You will be rewarded for your efforts nonetheless. Here" Gweneth handed him the Wabbajack, as well as an enchanted ring that could make your base health one hundred points higher. "With these people will have a hard time killing you."

"Thank you." He bowed.

"Now be on your way." Gwen smiled a sad smile and watched the nord travel back into town.

She didn't know why she gave some faith to the mortal, maybe she was bored. But being rejected hurt. She knew Sheogorath was still there, inside of him but Jyggalag never wanted him to get out. Gwen rolled onto the sand. Not wanting to move anymore, or sift herself back into her realm. Haskill was probably waiting for her, she bet he sent another mortal to fetch another mortal to find her. So predictable, but she loved him for it.

Large footsteps padded their way to where Gweneth lay, she was too busy in her thoughts to hear the clanking of metal armor. A sword buried itself into the sand beside her head. A helmet was dropped to the ground next to it. A few growls were emmiting from this creature and Gweneth finally decided to open her eyes and look for the source. Beside her looking irritated was Jyggalag.

"I don't know why I am here but I am going to just do this before I change my mind." He sounded mad, but not at her, himself.

"Jyggy, what are you doing?" Gwen sat up.

"I know all things past and present. I know everything you've gone through to get where you are, things were forced upon you that you never wanted. You are an extraordinary mortal that defied the path meant for you. The one thing you yearn for has never been allowed. You did me a great service by freeing me from Madness and to return the favor I will allow the one thing you want. Then we are even." Jyggalag muttered a few unitelligable words and he felt to the sand, his body splitting into two.

"But, why?" Gweneth felt tears falling down her face, she didn't feel sad though. Jyggalag looked up to respond, his grey eyes showing discomfort.

"You are a daedric prince, we are equals. We have en eternity to coexist with each other and this will be a good start to it. I trust you will keep him away from me." Jyggalag gave her a stern look saying 'I can take away this part of me again so don't fuck with me' as the form split from him.

"Of course, of c-c-c-ourse." She couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. The form that split off from Jyggalag was bright light, it faded until the shape of a man appeared.

"Good morning Starshine." An old Irish burr chuckled, and her heart nearly gave out.

"Sh-Sheo." Gweneth felt the madness lift from her and seep back into him, as if she were merely borrowing it from him.

"Took you long enough! I know you didn't like me but you enjoy the lassie." Sheogorath wore his normal outfit and his gold eyes shown bright, his hair was a deep brown as well as his beard. He looked young. "Ah it feels good to be reborn. I feel as fresh as a babies bottom."

"Thank you." Gwen looked over to Jyggalag who did not seem at all pleased to see him but relieved he was no longer physically apart of him.

"Remember." The prince nodded and faded away.

"Did you miss me my sweet? Oh and thank you for taking care of the Isles while I was away, I was on holiday!" The maddened prince before her grinned like a little boy.

"More than you could imagine." She sniffled and ran into his arms, she was held close and tight.

"I wont ever let you hurt again my queen." His voice was low and warm. "I love you Starshine."

He was serious and she believed every word.

* * *

Welp. There we go. 3 years I started this and now it's finally completed. Wow it's been difficult writing this. Thank you to all the people who gave a fuck enough to stay on this angst train. I love you guys. So at this point, I could write one-shots if you all were interested in pure fluff, or lemons between these two. I didn't wanna draw it out any longer and tamper with the main story I had for this. But oneshots are good.

Please please please review, favorite, share it around. Now that it's complete anyone can quickly feel the feely feels of this angst fest.

If you liked reading this, please check out my other fics. I have a Skyrim fic that's up, and a Pirates of the Caribbean one too. Stay away from the Naruto fics unless you can bear through very very rookie writing.

Thank you so much for the support. Good to know I am not the only one who crushed on this old man. It's been a blast.

~Much Love, LadyMarrowind.


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